A Promise Kept
by RavenBelours
Summary: Snow and Regina share a long history and caused each other a lot of pain. After Cora's death Regina avoids the townspeople, but that doesn't mean Snow will stop viewing her as a possible threat to her own happy ending. Locking her up, somewhere outside of town is the answer she comes up with. That is until Emma finds out and swears that she will do anything to free the former queen


_**Authors Note:**_ _This story was written for the Swan Queen Summer Big Bang 2014. Thanks to dance-love-life for the beta-ing and cbem for the cover art! I hope you enjoy reading!_

"Please, Emma, you have to find him!"

"Archie, no…"

"You're the sheriff."

"That's exactly why I won't be doing this."

The man looked at her with such big sad eyes that she finally sighed in defeat.

"Okay, I will go out and search for Pongo, but believe me, I'm doing this just this one time. If your dog runs away ever again, it's your problem, okay?"

"Thank you Emma!"

Archie' face lit up like that of a child on Christmas morning and Emma just sighed again.

"So now, go. I'll call you when I find him."

"Okay. And again, thank you."

"Hmm."

When Archie had left her office the blonde dropped her head on her folded arms on her desk.

Searching for a missing Dalmatian, seriously? That's what she got?

Ever since the events with Cora and Captain Hook two weeks ago her workdays had become terribly boring. Not that she wanted another crazy "I'll kill you all" adventure with a dark sorceress but just a little more action would have been nice; a shop robbery for example. Now that would definitely light up her mood.

But instead she had to go search the woods for a missing Dalmatian. Living in a town that very much equaled a monarchy these days obviously didn't provide something more interesting.  
While she took on her jacket and stuffed her phone into her pocket she thought about how life in the Enchanted Forest before the curse must have been. Had it been as eventless as it was now? After all the surroundings were almost the same. Since her parents had taken over the position as mayors, which basically meant "king and queen", everyone in town admired Snow White and Prince Charming for their kindness and fairness and seemed to be overly happy. Emma found it disturbing but she didn't say anything, at least for now.

She was too relieved that her mother had come out of her earlier depression after killing Regina's mother –which probably lead to the answer to the question she had asked herself earlier.

Life in the Enchanted Forest was probably anything but eventless because there had been an Evil Queen yearning for Snow White's death, who destroyed as many lives as possible in the course.

At least that what she's been told and also what Henry's storybook said.

She just couldn't bring herself to believe it. This Evil Queen should be Regina Mills, the ever so sassy former mayor? The woman that had raised the son she didn't have the strength to keep? She really had a hard time believing this.

Grabbing her keys and walking outside to the police cruiser, her thoughts continued to circle around the former mayor.

For the last two weeks she had rarely seen her, anyone had, actually. The only times they talked were when they arranged who would take Henry and that didn't really qualify as conversation.  
Emma was happy that the kid came to accept that his mother wasn't the evil witch everyone had seen her as when they believed she killed Archie. He did have a hard time believing that there were shades of grey between the obvious black and white, but finally his love for the woman who raised him had been bigger; and frankly, Emma thought, Henry was the only thing that kept Regina grounded these days.

The fact that she hadn't been seen around town for the past two weeks told the blonde sheriff that the former mayor was probably still grieving for her mother and coming to terms with what happened in Gold's pawn shop, when Cora's cursed heart was returned to her body, and probably also with what happened years ago between mother and daughter. From what she got "complicated" must have been the understatement of the year to describe their relationship.

But when thinking about Regina she also thought about what would happen when the brunette was coming back out again. Emma was sure that she would not just accept Mary Margaret's and David's position in town.

Also every time her mind wandered to the brunette Emma would feel that pinch of guilt in her stomach. Sure, she was thankful that Cora didn't have the chance to become the Dark One and destroy the town, but she was also feeling guilty for her mother's actions. She killed another person and even if Emma did not mourn Cora's death, she was feeling bad for Regina. After all Cora had been her mother, and losing your mother in such a cruel way, that was a thing Emma did not wish for anyone to experience, no matter their past.

She stopped the cruiser when she came to Toll Bridge where Archie said Pongo disappeared into the woods. Turning her attention back to her surroundings she got out of the car, locked it and turned around one time before sighing loudly and walking towards the bridge.

"Pongo!" she called out but naturally didn't receive an answer.

"Why?" Emma asked herself while turning and starting to walk off the path and into the woods.

"Pongo! Pongo!" she called out again searching the woods for any sign of a white fur.

….

It was already dawning when Emma leaned back against a tree and closed her eyes for a second. She had been searching the woods for this stupid dog for two hours already and was no step closer to finding it. Also she started to lose track of where she was and where she had already been. She was sure she'd find her way back to the path and bridge where her cruiser was parked but she had no idea if she walked in circles while searching.

While mentally cursing Archie for not being able to keep his dog on a leash, her phone started ringing in her pocket. She pulled it out and answered it without looking at the screen first.

"Sheriff Swan"

"Emma, it's me, Henry."

"Kid, hey. What is it? Shouldn't you be with Regina tonight?"

"That's exactly why I was calling. She's not home. I called her after school to tell her that I would come home later because I had to finish this science project and prepare the presentation with a classmate and when I came home she wasn't here. Do you know where she is?"

"No, no I don't."

Emma's mind began working furiously. Regina would never miss the opportunity to be with Henry, much less without telling him why or where she would go. It was only earlier that day that Emma had thought about what the brunette would do when she would face the world again but she hadn't expected this day to come so soon.

"Where are you now, Henry?" she asked.

"At the mansion. I thought maybe she was just picking up some groceries or something, but I've waited for an hour already and usually she doesn't take long shopping. Do you think something has happened? Do you think she's planning something, threatening your mom? She must still be angry at Snow White for what she did."

"Whoa, Henry. Calm down. Do you really think your mother would hurt anyone? Didn't we discuss this often enough?"

Emma felt quite disappointed that the kid slipped back into old manners of doubting Regina so easily but he was just a child after all and when his answer came sounding so very sad she immediately felt sorry for snapping at him.

"No. I'm sorry."

"Listen" she sighed before continuing, "I'm sorry for snapping at you, but you know, just trust her, trust your own feelings. Do you really think she would hurt Mary Margaret?"

"No." Henry answered sounding certain.

"See. So just trust her."

"Okay. But what do I do now? And where are you, by the way?"

"I'm in the woods searching for Archie's dog." Emma sighed, remembering the stupid task she tried to accomplish, "What about you go over to Mary Margaret's and stay there until I'm home? I'll try to reach your mom to find out why she wasn't home, okay?"

"Okay. See you later then?"

"Yep. Bye Henry."

"Bye, love you."

"Love you too."

A smile came to Emma's lips at his last words. She still wasn't used to this easy kind of love but she definitely welcomed it. But soon her thoughts came back to more pressuring topics.

Why wasn't Regina at the mansion without telling anyone when it was her turn to take Henry? Emma searched her brain but couldn't come up with a reason that didn't involve something bad happening to the brunette.

Did the townspeople act on their still obvious dislike for the former queen? She stopped for a moment when she realized that she was actually trusting Regina more about not hurting others than the townspeople about not hurting Regina.

At least with Henry Regina had a reason to try to get along with everyone and redeem herself, but the townspeople? They were so eager to please Snow and show her their affection that Emma wasn't sure how far they would go, considering the former mayors past attempts on murdering their beloved Snow White.

She shivered when a cold wind crept under her leather jacket and decided that her search for Pongo would be ended for today. Maybe the dog would find his own way back; otherwise she would have to return tomorrow. But now it was getting dark and cold and she wanted to get back to town. She looked around and thought of which way the path had to be before starting to walk.

But just a few minutes later she realized that she must have walked into the wrong direction because she suddenly found herself in front of an old wooden cabin. She had heard her parents talk about it. Just when she was about to turn around to walk into the other direction, which she was now sure was the right one, she heard the loud noise of something breaking inside the cabin and she spun around again.

Why would someone be in the cabin at this time of the year, when fall was already almost turning into winter? And why would that someone be destroying the cabin's interior?

She walked up to the porch and was just about to knock when she heard another set of loud noises and decided to instead just walk into the small house.

What or better who she found when she stepped inside surprised her and she felt her jaws dropping at the sight.

"Regina?" she asked unbelieving, gaze switching between the brunette woman and the mess that currently was the cabin's floor. Everywhere were pieces of shattered glass and porcelain that obviously suffered from an outburst of rage by the former mayor. Emma just didn't understand why Regina would be out here and why she would destroy the dishes. It was definitely not the way Regina Mills usually dealt with anger.

"Emma?"

The brunette's voice sounded honestly surprised at the sight of the sheriff but immediately changed back into its normal indifference, curved with anger.

"What are you doing here, Miss Swan?"

"I was searching for Archie's dog and came by here by accident. I was about to walk back to my car when I heard noises. But what are **you** doing here? You're supposed to be at your mansion with Henry. He already called and asked about you."

Regina's expression became hard as she laughed bitterly at Emma.

"What **I** am doing here? Oh of course, because you wouldn't know, would you?"

Emma felt seriously confused.

"What should I know?"

"I'm here because of your mother" she spit out the last two words, "she holds me captive here."

"She… **What?!** "

Emma believed she heard wrong but the look Regina was giving her was stating the opposite.

What the hell had happened in the two hours she was out searching for that stupid dog? Did the whole town turn crazy?

"Why would she do that? And how would she do that? I don't believe you would just stay in here because she told you so, the door was unlocked."

"I have no idea what thoughts are going through that stupid little brain of Snow's but for the How: You see this?" Regina held up her left arm and rolled up her blazer's sleeve a little to reveal a black leather bracelet- definitely not something Regina would wear voluntarily; and then Emma recognized it from her trip to the Enchanted Forest and the connections clicked in her brain.

"It's blocking your magic!"

"Yes it is. But that's not the only thing. The reason the door is unlocked and I still can't leave is that the cabin is under a "protection spell". No one can come in or leave."

"But I came in." Emma replied, already feeling dizzy by all the unexpected changes of events. She turned to the door that still stood open behind her.

"Yes.", Regina simply answered.

Emma looked at her for a while and when the brunette didn't say anything more she asked:

"So why is it I can come in?"

"I don't know!" Regina snapped, feeling more than a little betrayed by the fact that Emma Swan of all people could cross that stupid spell's boundaries.

"Probably because of your magic."

"I don't have magic."

"Of course you do, Miss Swan! You're true love's child, the first one in decades, magic runs in your blood."

Emma felt humiliated by the way Regina was saying this. As if it was her fault that she could enter the cabin but she swallowed the anger that was bubbling to the surface and decided that now was not the time to argue with the other woman. If they started arguing now they would probably not stop in the next hour and Emma had more pressuring things on her mind than defending herself against Regina's usual offends.

So instead of snapping back at the brunette, Emma turned around to close the door and sat down on the couch that was located in the living space of the cabin.

"What do you think you're doing?" Regina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We are going to talk now. You are going to tell me what happened."

"I already told you-"

"No. I want details."

"Ask you mother, at least you still have one!"

The room suddenly became eerily silent.

Emma had turned to gaze at Regina while the former mayor had averted her gaze and fixated the wooden floor in front of her feet, biting down on her lower lip to keep it from trembling from the emotions her outburst had surfaced.

"I'm sorry." Emma finally broke the silence.

"For what?" Regina snapped back, regaining her composure and hiding her emotions behind anger.

"For my mother using that candle on Cora, well, and for her locking you up here." The blonde's voice softened. She hadn't missed the emotions flickering over Regina's face when she mentioned her mother and they matched how Emma thought the brunette would feel.  
"Tell me what happened."

Regina gazed at the sheriff for a long moment, conflicting emotions raging on inside.

On the one hand she wanted to hate the blonde woman in front of her for who she was- Snow White's daughter, Henry's birthmother, the goddamn Savior that broke her curse.  
On the other hand she seemed to honestly care. And she did not seem to agree with Snow White. Regina was quite sure Emma really didn't know about Snow's decision to lock her up. So finally she walked over to the living space and sat down in the armchair opposite to the couch.

"This afternoon Henry called to tell me he would come home later because of his science project."

"I know, he told me, too."

"Would you please not interrupt me, Miss Swan!"

The blonde was about to reply something but decided against it and just nodded.

"Shortly after he called, my doorbell rang. I wasn't about to open but the bell wouldn't stop ringing so I finally got it. It was your mother and that stupid Blue Fairy."

"Mother Superior?"

"If you wish to call her that, yes. Even though fairy magic is worth nothing most of the time, since the dwarfs found some fairydust in the mines they seem to have a notable amount of it right now, at least enough for a sleeping spell.

I woke up here with your mother and that fairy standing in the door frame. They brought me here, blocked my magic with that bracelet and put the spell over the cabin."

"But why?"

"Because I'm the Evil Queen." Regina's voice was full of bitterness as her gaze left Emma and instead focused on the tree outside the window.

"No you're not. Not anymore, at least."

Emma observed the brunette's reaction to her last statement and caught the short look of surprise on her face.

The room fell silent again and it was once again Emma who eventually broke it.

"So how does this spell work?"

Regina sighed and turned to face the sheriff again.

"It's a protection spell. Normally it's used to protect those inside. No one from the outside can enter it and no one from the inside can leave without the one who enacted the spell. This one though was created slightly different. The fairy left before the spell was fully activated, leaving me trapped inside alone."

"But it can be undone? I'll drag the Blue Fairy here to undo the spell."

"Now why would you want to do that? Besides, no, it can't be broken."

"What do you mean it can't be broken?"

"I mean it can't be broken."

"But… the Blue Fairy…"

Regina sighed at Emma's total ignorance of magic. How could a person born to Snow White and that terribly annoying prince of hers be so ignorant of what the old land was about?

But the former mayor explained it for the blonde nonetheless.

"When she left before the spell was fully activated, she abandoned her ability to undo it. It can only be undone from someone inside and because I can't use magic because of that beautiful bracelet" her voice was dripping with irony, "it can't be broken. I'm trapped here."

"Like forever?"

"I see you listened."

"But…but that's like one of your dark curses, isn't it? How is the Blue Fairy even able to do something like it? I thought she can only do white magic?"

Regina laughed at Emma's naiveté.

"There is no such thing as pure white and dark magic, my dear. Magic is always the same. It's your intentions that define the outcome, but you're right about the curse. It very much works like one."

"But every curse can be broken, can't it?"

"You read too much of Henry's book."

"But I am right?"

Regina sighed. Of course, every curse could be broken, just not if it was trapping her and she was cut off her magic.

"True love's kiss can break any curse."

Emma's voice was quiet.

And so was Regina. When the brunette finally answered her voice was still bitter but Emma also heard a lot of sadness sipping through.

"Only there's no true love for me."

Emma stared at the brunette for a long moment before the meaning of it, of all of it, suddenly came crushing down on her and she gasped open mouthed.

"You really are trapped here forever! That was their intention, they knew how the spell would work and that you couldn't break it without magic."

"Congratulations, you're a fast learner, Miss Swan." The brunette stated, the earlier sadness gone and instead anger showing again in her expression.

Emma jumped to her feet, unable to sit still any longer.

"I… I can't believe this!"

She started pacing up and down, clenching and unclenching her hands to fists.

"I have to go talk to her! She can't do this!" She stopped for a moment, eyes widening in horror, "What am I supposed to tell Henry?"

Anger brewed in her. When Mary Margaret- no Snow White, she decided- did that magic-candle thing it was to save the town. Even though Emma didn't approve of the method at least the purpose was one she understood. But this? This was just unacceptable! Who did her mother think she was?

 _Queen,_ some small voice in her head whispered and her anger only grew. She should have stopped this whole monarchy thing when it started and insist on keeping the municipal structures. This was still the real world and certain laws were effective even in Storybrooke. Also why didn't she get told anything? She was the sheriff; it was her job to uphold the law.

"I have to go talk to her!" she burst out and headed for the door where she stopped all at once as another thought crossed her mind and she turned back to look at Regina.

"Do you need anything? I mean, if this was meant to keep you locked away and everyone from entering, how exactly were you to survive here?"

"Oh, don't worry. Your mother was very caring on that basis. They left the cabin to me with a filled pantry." Regina answered ironically.

Both women looked around the small house and when Emma's gaze fell on the shattered porcelain on the ground she looked up at Regina again.

"I think I might bring you some new dishes, though. It seems you destroyed most of it."

"You don't have to act as if it mattered to you how my life in imprisonment goes, Miss Swan."

The old ignorance and indifference was back and Emma bit down on her lip to not yell at the other woman.

"It does matter to me, because it matters to Henry. He loves you Regina. I have no idea how I'm going to explain this" she waved around the cabin, "to him, but I will do everything to get you out of here, I promise. Whatever you've done back there you don't deserve this. No one does. So I will bring you some new dishes and if there's something else you need, I'll be back tomorrow.

Goodbye Regina."

With that she turned once again and stepped outside, closing the door behind her and taking a deep breath.

She was angry. She felt like punching something, someone. She was so done with all of this "magic's back"-thing.

She made her way back to Toll Bridge and got into her car. Not caring about speed limits she drove back to town, stopping the car with squealing tires in front of the apartment building. Not bothering to lock it, she stomped into the house and ripped open the apartment door.

The sight that greeted her only added to her anger. Snow and Charming were standing at the kitchen counter, laughing with Henry while preparing dinner.

"Emma there you are. Henry told us you had to search for Pongo, did you find him?" Mary Margaret said and offered a wide smile to her daughter.

"Henry, would you go upstairs and close the door, please." Emma said, jaws clenching.

Henry looked at his mother, an expression of utter confusion on his face but he sensed that now was not the time to argue with Emma so he obeyed and climbed the stairs. Emma waited until she could hear the bedroom door close before she started with her tirade.

"Are you out of your mind?! I was out searching for Pongo and guess what I found, or better who I found?

Locking up Regina in a cabin in the woods!? What the hell were you thinking? You are well aware that the spell can't be undone, aren't you?"

Mary Margaret just stared at her daughter, unable to react to her rage. It was Charming who eventually took a step forward, hands outstretched as if to calm his daughter, but his attempt failed gloriously.

"And you! Did you know?" Emma yelled.

It was now her father's turn to stay silent but eventually he had the courage to answer his daughter.

"She told me, afterwards."

"And you thought it was fine?"

"I…- I think it's an effective way to solve the problem."

"What problem?!"  
Mary Margaret seemed to have regained her voice and took a step forward as well, so she stood next to her husband again.

"Emma, you don't understand. Regina's evil, she's dangerous. Why do you think she didn't leave her house for two weeks? She's planning something, some evil strike to kill me, as she tried so often."

"She was grieving for her mother- whom you killed!"

"Cora would have destroyed Storybrooke."

"But it doesn't change the fact that you killed her **mother**!"

"Why are you defending her?" Mary Margaret's face was painted with surprise and disappointment. She had expected to meet resistance when her daughter would find out, but she thought eventually she would understand.

"I'm defending her because she's Henry's mother! He loves her, he cares for her and she loves him too! She has been changing for him! And everything went fine until we suspected her for killing Archie and took Henry away from her! I am not going to make the same mistake twice, that's why we took turns taking Henry! Do you seriously still think she's going to kill you or hurt Henry?"

Emma realized it was the wrong question as soon as she had asked it.

The expression on her parents' faces was obvious. They really believed Regina would have stomped in here and killed Mary Margaret without any hesitance.

"Emma", her mother tried again, "you don't know what she's capable of. You haven't seen what she's done."  
"But I see what she's doing now. She is grieving the loss of her mother and at the same time trying to be a better one for Henry, when you decided to knock her out with some fairydust, give her that magic-blocking bracelet and lock her away in a cabin in the woods **forever**! Gosh! She's a human being like all of us, how can you think she'd deserve something like this? How can you think this would be right?"

Anger but also disappointment spilled over her, when her parents didn't answer.

"Who are you?"

"Emma, we…" her father started to explain but Emma was done listening.

"No! Just, no! I don't want to hear your excuses. Whatever it was she did to you all those years ago, today you sank to the same level!"

She stomped up the stairs and into her bedroom, ripped out her suitcase from under the bed and started to throw clothes in it.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Leaving. Do you have your keys for the mansion?"

"Yes, but…"

"Good. Take your bag and get in the cruiser, it's unlocked."

"Emma, why? What happened? I only heard you screaming."

"I'll tell you later, promise, but please" she stopped to actually look at him and her voice softened at his scared expression "please just do as I say."

It took a moment but then Henry nodded and disappeared downstairs.

Emma continued tossing clothes into her suitcase until it was full. She then ran into the bathroom, gathered her things from there, also tossed them in the suitcase and then closed it.

She carried it down the stairs and left the apartment without so much as looking at her parents.

The drive over to Mifflin Street was done in silence. Henry decided to not ask his mother something right now but to just wait until she spoke on her own. She had promised him to explain, but right now she just stayed silent.

They parked in front of the mansion and took out the bags, Henry opened the door and Emma followed him inside.

They left the bags on the bottom of the stairs and Emma took a look around. She remembered where the study was and headed there and then immediately to the small table where Regina kept her liquor. She poured herself a glass of whiskey and downed it in a big gulp before Henry could even catch up with her.

"What happened?" he finally asked.

She took a deep breath and set down her glass again, before laying her hands on Henrys shoulders and guiding him towards the kitchen.

She did not want to have this conversation but she owed her son the truth. There had been too many lies in his life already and this was something that directly affected him.

The alcohol still burned in her stomach but it gave her at least a little reassurance. She could drink as much as she wanted later tonight and she held up this thought when they entered the kitchen and sat down at the table in the adjoining dining room.

The blonde took one last breath before she faced her son who was already looking at her expectantly.

"Okay, so I was out in the woods searching for Pongo today when you called and told me that Regina wasn't home. I was done searching for the day and was about to walk back to the car but ended up at a small cabin. Regina was there."

Henry's face resembled a big question mark.

"But what would she do out there?"

"That's the thing. She's not there voluntarily."

"What do you mean?"

Emma took another deep breath.

"Remember when I told you I'm sure your mother won't hurt anyone and when you told me you believe the same."

Henry nodded.

"Well, Mary Margaret and David believe otherwise. So today, while you were doing your science project and I was searching for Pongo, Mary Margaret went to the Blue Fairy and they", she searched for a word for a moment, "arrested your mom."

"But then why isn't she at the sheriff's station?"

"That's the other thing. You know that magic's back in Storybrooke and that your mother is quite powerful. But the fairies also have their magic. Mary Margaret and the Blue Fairy used a sleeping spell on your mother and took her to the cabin and then they trapped her with another spell."

"What do you mean trapped?" Henry looked seriously disconcerted.

"It's like a curse that keeps her from leaving the cabin and everyone else from entering."

Henry stared at his birthmother in disbelief.

"Why would they do that? They're the good people!"

Emma sighed, before answering.

"Henry, it's not that easy. You can't categorize people into _good_ and _bad_." She looked at him and waited for understanding in his expression before she continued. "They believe Regina's dangerous, for you, for Mary Margaret, for everyone."  
"But that's not true!"

"Of course it's not, but they thought so and now the damage is done."

"What do you mean, damage? She's okay, isn't she? They didn't hurt her. And they can undo the spell, you can tell them to do so?"

"Unfortunately that's s not that easy either."

"Is that why you were so angry at your parents?"

"Yes. I can tell you your mom's not hurt but the spell can't be undone. It works like a curse."

"It can only be broken by true love's kiss." Henry finished and Emma only nodded.

"My mom doesn't have a true love."

"I know."

"So. You mean? Is she…? Is she trapped there forever?!" His eyes widened in horror.

"For now it seems." Emma answered taking her sons hands into her own to offer some comfort.

"I promise I'll try to get her out of there. I'll talk to Gold tomorrow, maybe he can help."

"But what if you can't break the curse?"

She saw tears glistening in Henry's eyes and felt a knot building in her throat.

"I will, okay? I'm the savior, I will find a way."

A tear rolled down the boy's cheek and Emma got up to walk around the table and take him into a warm hug. It was the most intimate contact they ever shared.

"Everything will be fine." she whispered.

When they broke the contact she could see the exhaustion on the boy's face. With a lopsided smile she stroked away some remaining tears and then tousled her son's hair.

"Let's get you into bed. Tomorrow everything will look different."

She laid a hand on his shoulder before following him upstairs. Before he got into the bathroom she remembered asking for the guest room.

"Second room on the right." Henry answered before closing the bathroom door behind him.

Emma opened the mentioned door and found a perfectly tidied bedroom with fresh sheets on the bed. Emma wondered if anyone had ever slept in this bed.

She went back downstairs to carry up her suitcase and changed into something more comfortable than jeans and boots.

When Henry left the bathroom Emma was dressed in gray yoga pants and a black tank top and already waited for him.

He crawled up under his blankets and she kissed him Goodnight. Just when she was about to leave the room a question stopped her.

"Can I see her tomorrow?"

Emma thought about this for a moment.

"Maybe not tomorrow" she decided but when she saw the devastated look on his face she quickly added "but I'll take you there on Friday. I promise."

"Thank you."

"Good Night Henry."

"Good Night."

She closed the door and leaned against it, sighing.

Slowly she walked over to the guest room, all thoughts of drinking forgotten. Turning off the lights in the hallway she closed the door behind her and let herself fall down on the Queen-sized bed.

Suddenly the day's events came down on her and she felt utterly exhausted.

But while her body relaxed against the soft linen covers her mind wouldn't stop spinning.

Two weeks ago they had faced a deathly threat coming from Cora Mills and defeated it only in the last moment. Her own mother was the one murdering Cora with that magical candle. In the bigger picture of course, it saved them, but she had ended another human life. That was nothing to be proud of and her mother wasn't. She was devastated and Emma had understood.

But what she did today? There was no reason for her mother to lock Regina up, to take her away from the thing she loved most.  
Mary Margaret did not waste one thought on how her action would impact on Henry's life- that was what she was most angry about, but she also felt betrayed herself.

Her whole life she had spent without a family, bounced around between foster homes, always wondering why someone would just leave her at the side of a road. Then she had finally found her family and was sucked through a portal into the remains of the Enchanted Forest. It was a confusing and scaring experience and even though she had her mother with her and owed her her life on several occasions, there wasn't really that much time to enjoy the family reunion.

After the events with Cora things had finally come to settle down and for the first time in her life Emma had experienced some sort of domesticity.

With what happened today she just felt so betrayed and disappointed. She thought having a family would be something nice, something easy, having someone to count on, things like that but it turned out family was a whole different issue.

Emma just couldn't understand why her mother had ignored her and went on with her stupid idea without so much as asking her opinion.

She turned around to lie on her side and felt herself choking on a sob and mentally slapped herself for becoming so emotional but she just couldn't help the feeling of betrayal and disappointment from the only people in the world she thought would love and trust her unconditionally.

Swallowing heavily she tried to stop the absurd crying and curled up under the blankets to find some sleep.

….

Emma woke up and felt disorientated for a few moments when she didn't immediately recognize where she was, but it didn't take long before her mind caught up and she remembered.  
A look at the alarm clock that sat on the nightstand next to her told her that it was time for Henry to go to school and she already heard him rumoring around the house, which was probably the reason why she awoke in the first place.

She peeled herself out of the blankets and left the bedroom to walk down to the kitchen. She could hear Henry was still in the bathroom so she took the time to look around the kitchen for bowls and cereal. After opening almost every cupboard available she finally found what she searched for and poured both of them a bowl, filling it up with milk. Then she turned to search for a coffee machine only to discover that there was none. The only thing appropriate to make coffee was a French press, which Emma had no idea how to use.

Sighing she took out two glasses and some orange juice when Henry entered the kitchen.

"Morning Emma."

"Good Morning, kid."

"Breakfast, great." Henry sat down and immediately began chewing on his cereal when he noticed the unused French press behind Emma.

"Don't you want some coffee?"

Emma followed his gaze and shrugged.

"I have no idea how to use that thing and you seem to not have a normal coffee machine."

"We don't. But I can make you some coffee, if you want."

"You know how to use that thing?"

Emma was staring at her son in disbelief.

"Yeah" Henry answered and shrugged before getting up and taking a pack of coffee out of the cupboard.

"It's not that hard, you know."

"And why exactly do you know how to make coffee?"

"I used to make coffee for mom on special occasions- her birthday, mother's day, Valentine's Day."

"Valentine's day?"

"Well she never had someone to take her on a date and once I knew what Valentine's day was about I thought it would be nice to at least make her coffee in the morning."

Emma followed Henry's moves as he boiled some water and poured 4 spoons of coffee into the press.

"You're great, kid, you know that?", Emma finally said, smiling at her son, feeling strangely proud.

"Thanks."

He poured the water on the coffee and turned back to her.

"Here you go. Now you just have to wait a couple of minutes and then press the filter down."

"Thank you" Emma replied, returning to her cereal as well.

They ate in silence, Emma finally pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"What about I meet you for lunch at Granny's today?" she asked when they were finished with breakfast and put their used dishes in the dishwasher.

"Sounds great.", Henry nodded and then looked at the clock.

"I have to go now. Will you go to Mr Gold today?"

"I will. Have a good day, Henry."

"Yeah, you too." He answered before leaving the house.

As soon as the door had closed behind Henry the mansion was filled with an uneasy silence and for the first time Emma began to realize how lonely Regina must have felt all those years before adopting Henry and how much worse it must have been for her all the times Henry preferred to be with her instead of Regina.

Looking around for something to do her eyes fell on the backyard that could be seen through the living room windows. Even though it was early and the sun only rose now it seemed to become a beautiful day and Emma decided to go for a morning run.

Maybe some fresh air would help her clear her mind and offer an idea on how to talk to Gold later today. She quickly changed into sports clothes and left the house, taking the keys with her that lay on the dresser in the foyer and obviously were Regina's. She smiled when she saw the pendant of an apple dangling between the keys.

Apples, she would bring some apples along with the dishes, she decided, and headed for the beach.

Two hours later she was back at the mansion, had a shower and was currently searching for some kind of basket to transport the apples and the dishes in. She decided to bring some glasses, cups and plates because those seemed to be the things that had to give their life in Regina's outburst about being trapped.

She then went outside to the yard and picked some of the delicious looking apples to add them to the basket which she had finally found on the bottom shelf of the pantry.

When she was done it was almost time for lunch so she put the basket in the passenger seat of the cruiser and headed over to Granny's, passing by the sheriff's station to check the answering machine for any new messages only to find that there weren't any, which was not very surprising.

The only one that had ever disturbed the people's lives was locked away in the woods, so what problems would the town have to face?-, she though bitterly but shook off the thoughts when she entered the diner and found Henry already seated in one of the booths.

"Hey. Have you already ordered?" she asked as she slipped into the booth.

"No, I thought I'd wait for you."

"That's nice." She answered not really knowing what to make of her sons unusual behavior.  
"Have you talked to Gold yet?"

"No. I'm going to see him after lunch and then I'm going to visit your mom."

Ruby came by to take their orders and they chatted a little before she left to give their orders to the kitchen and prepare their drinks.

"You said you would visit mom later but you told me yesterday that no one can enter the cabin. Are you going to like talk to her through the open door?"

Emma actually smiled at the thought of this, even though it wasn't really funny.

"I seem to be the only one able to enter.", she answered to Henry's question.

"And why is that?"

"Well, Regina thinks it's because I'm the product of true love and the magic I have."

"You have magic?!" Henry cried out so that the whole diner looked over to them and Emma blushed a deep red.

"You don't have to scream, Henry." She reminded him and looked around the diner waiting for everybody to turn their attention back to their own conversations.

"So yeah, your mom thinks I have magic because of the true love's child thing. I think she might be right because when we were in the Enchanted Forest Cora couldn't rip out my heart, but I have no idea how to use it. So please, Henry, don't freak out."

Suddenly the blonde was feeling nervous about the boy's reaction. He had reacted so harsh to Regina using magic that she feared he might react similar now and reject her. There seemed to be a thousand thoughts going through his head while he just stared at his blonde mother who got more agitated with every second.

Then he finally answered, "It's okay, I guess. I mean if you can enter the cabin you can probably also help mom to get out of there, right? And you won't do anything bad with it."

Emma let out the breath she was holding.

"No I won't, I promise. And I guess you're right, I might be able to help her better because of it."

Ruby came back to bring their drinks and told them that their food would come soon, too, but Emma didn't really hear it. She thought about what Henry had just said: If she could get to the inside of the spell she might be able to help Regina get out. Regina had told her yesterday that the spell could only be broke from the inside, Regina couldn't access her magic due to the bracelet but Emma could.

"Emma, Emma, mom?"

"What?"

She snapped back to reality and found Henry staring at her, the plate with her grilled cheese in front of her.

"Are you alright?" Henry asked.

"Yes, yes I'm fine, just lost in thoughts. What did you say?"

"I said that the presentation of our science project is today. "

"Really? Do you think you're well prepared?"

"I think so. We worked really hard on it yesterday."

They chatted a little more about school until they were finished eating.

"I have to get back to school now." Henry said and gathered his things.

"Good luck with your presentation." Emma gave him a reassuring smile.

He nodded.

"Tell mom I love her, would you?"

"Of course."

"Thanks. See you later."

Then he left the diner and Emma was left alone with her thoughts. The idea she got earlier came back.

Regina might not have a true love to kiss to break the spell but if Emma could learn to use her magic she could break the spell. She didn't know if she would ever be able to use her magic, considering that Gold and Regina had decades of practicing to get where they were now, but she was determined to at least try if Gold couldn't offer her an easier way.

Gold, she remembered and got up quickly to pay for their lunch and walk down Main Street to the pawn shop.

The small bell rang when she entered the shop and Gold stepped into the shop from the backroom.

"Miss Swan, how can I help you?" he asked smiling.

"I need your help. With magic."

"Do you?"

"Mary Margaret- Snow- she went all crazy on Regina. She and the Blue Fairy brought her to a cabin in the woods and put some protection spell over it. Only the Blue fairy walked out of it and now Regina's trapped in there because of this bracelet that blocks her magic. I need you to help me undo the spell."  
"Well, Miss Swan, I'm pretty sure Regina told you that the spell can't be undone from the outside."

"Yes, she did but I thought maybe you could help, though?"

"Unfortunately, no."

Emma sighed annoyed.

"Seriously? Like, you're "The Dark One" everyone goes to you if they need anything and you can't undo some fairy magic?"

"I find it quite surprising that you seem to have such an interest in freeing our dear Queen."

"She's Henry's mother, I'm doing this for him. Also I don't want Snow to get away with this."

"Trouble in paradise, is it?" he asked, a grin spreading on his lips.

"Oh, stop it. You sure you can't help?"

"I already answered that one."

"Well then."

Emma turned and left the shop. Somehow it seemed like a bad idea to tell him her idea about using her own magic to break the spell.

When she was out on the street again her phone began ringing in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw the name "Mary Margaret" on the screen. Instead of answering, she rejected the call and stuffed her phone back into her pocket. She knew she had to talk to her mother at some point but that point was not yet reached. Right now she was still too angry to have a normal conversation with one of her parents.

She walked back to the cruiser, that was still parked in front of Granny's, to drive into the woods and visit Regina when she remembered about Pongo.

She stopped at the side of the road to pull her phone out again and called Archie to ask him if the dog had already come home only to get the unwelcomed answer that it didn't.

Searching for that godforsaken dog definitely wasn't what she wanted to spend her day with. Right now, though, she would visit Regina. That dog could wait a few more hours.

She parked her car, once again, at Toll bridge and took out the basket she had prepared, before she walked the short distance to the cabin.

This time she knocked and waited for an answer from inside.

"Come in!" she heard the former mayor's voice and turned the door handle to step in.

The first thing Emma noticed was that the broken pieces of glass and porcelain had been cleaned up. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her and set down the basket on the couch table.

"You really brought new dishes? And they're from my house?! How did you get into my house?" Regina greeted her when she glanced into the basket.

"Calm down, Regina. Yes, I brought new dishes. I didn't know how much you destroyed yesterday and how well equipped this kitchen is and yeah, they're from your house, as you might remember Henry has the keys to it. Also I might have stayed over there with Henry."

The blonde sheriff prepared for the tirade that was definitely about to come and Regina didn't disappoint her.

"Why would you be staying at my house?!"

"Yeah, well it might be delighting to you that I kind of had a big fight with my parents because of the whole _locking you up for a lifetime_ –thing. So I moved out temporarily and your mansion was kind of the only go-to I had. So I'm staying there with Henry until my mother regains some of her sanity."

Regina didn't like the feeling of being ignored when it came to the blonde's decision to invade her home, but she couldn't help but actually be delighted over the fact that the sheriff fought with her mother. Trouble in paradise – Snow definitely deserved that, so she decided to not talk about the blonde staying at her mansion any further.

"I also brought some apples from your tree. I thought you'd like them."

Emma pointed to the apples that lay between the dishes.

"Thank you."

Regina took one of the apples out of the basket and rolled it in her hand. A wave of sadness came over her as she thought about never seeing her apple tree again or all the other things she grew used to having around.

Emma noticed the brunette's change of emotion and just stayed silent for a while and sat down on the couch like she did yesterday.

"So I went to Gold today. He said he couldn't help."

Regina shook her head to get rid of the uncomfortable feelings and put her walls up again before walking over to sit in the armchair.

"I told you, there's nothing that can be done."

"Well, I also talked to Henry. And he mentioned something that made me think of a possible solution."

"And what would that be?"

"You told me I had magic, that it would be the reason I could come in here. You also told me that the spell could only be broken from the inside if not through true love's kiss. So… if I could access and control my magic I could break the spell, couldn't I?"

Now Regina was seriously surprised. That was something she hadn't thought about. Now it would not help her with taking off the bracelet but getting out of this cabin would at least be a start.

On the other hand, would Emma Swan really be able to control her magic? The woman had lived in land without magic for her whole life.

"You don't think I could do it." Emma read the brunette's expression.

"It requires a lot."

"You could teach me."

"You want me to teach you? I'm the evil queen, my magic is dark."

"You just told me yesterday that there's no such thing like dark magic and considering that it is you I try to free, I think it's only legit I ask you to teach me."

Regina thought about it for a while.

The blonde's idea could be a solution for her situation and a part of her desperately wanted to believe that the sheriff could break the spell. The perspective of never leaving this godforsaken cabin ever again was one that brought her close to a depression.

But Emma Swan was still Emma Swan. The two women had done nothing than fighting ever since they met. Also Regina didn't consider the blonde to be someone patient enough to even sit still long enough for her to explain the simplest concept of magic.

Emma watched Regina's thinking process and decided to not push the brunette to a decision right now. Instead she said:

"Henry asked if he could come to visit you tomorrow. Would that be okay for you?"

 _Henry_ , Regina thought.

She would not be able to see her baby boy grow up, if she was trapped in here. She would not be able to ever touch him again, tousle his hair, hug him. Anger built up again thinking about what Snow White had taken from her but it was soon overlaid with sadness. The little princess had succeeded in the end and Regina was powerless in all meanings of the word.

She had tried to cross the spell's boundaries the last night, but found herself not even able to touch the door handle before an electric shock had eliminated the try and she felt unable to hold herself up on her legs anymore.

The last time she felt so powerless was when she was a child and her mother had punished every unwelcomed behavior with magical restraints or electric shocks, for that matter.

"He also told me to tell you he loves you." Emma's voice found its way into her thoughts and Regina felt her throat closing up as tears came to her eyes.

She was fast to blink them away and avoided looking at the other woman until she was sure she had her emotions controlled again.

"I'd very much like to see him tomorrow." She answered and took a deep breath before saying the next sentence "Also I think I could try teaching you magic."

A big smile came to Emma's lips but soon disappeared as she remembered what other task she had to do before concentrating on learning magic. Pongo. With a look outside the window her mood dropped even further when she discovered it had started to rain.

"Oh Damn it!", she cursed.

"Excuse me?"

"No, not you. Archie lost his dog and I'm supposed to find it and it's raining outside."

"Then you better get started soon, it looks like the weather will only get worse."

The former mayor followed the blonde's gaze outside.

Emma sighed and got up from the couch.

"So now, that we agreed on interacting more often, is there really nothing else you need from your house? Like, clothes, for example?"

Regina blushed at the thought and wanted to slap herself for her body's reaction to this question. Of course she would need clothes if she didn't want to wash the ones she had on right now in the sink on a daily basis. But what she definitely didn't want was Emma Swan browsing through her closet; only that no one seemed to care about what she did and did not want these days.

"Well I suppose I do need some clothes." She answered slowly.

When Emma realized what her bringing Regina clothes meant she immediately blushed herself. She didn't think the thing through when she made the offer but, well, now it was too late.

"Okay." She finally answered, pushing away the thoughts of browsing through the brunette's underwear. "Anything else?"

Regina thought about it and looked around the cabin.

"Some books would be nice." She decided.

"Noted."

"Oh and my phone?"

"Of course."

Emma took one more look around the cabin and walked over to the door.

Opening it she turned around once more to face Regina.

"How far outside can you actually get?" she asked.

"I can't even touch the door." Regina answered bitterly, remembering the electric shock.

"Oh."

"Yes."

The cabin was quiet for a moment, apart from the sound of the rain outside.

"Well, see you tomorrow then, I guess.", Emma finally said, "I'll take Henry here after school."

Emma turned to walk outside when she heard the brunette's quiet "Thank you" behind her and smiled, closing the door.

Immediately she was reminded of what laid ahead of her.

…

Emma was cold and dripping wet when she returned to the mansion, where Henry was sitting on the couch and watching TV in the living room.

"Emma?"

"Yep."

He came around the corner and burst out into laughter when he saw her standing in the foyer.

"What did you **do**?" he asked.

"I tried to find that stupid dog!"

"I guess you weren't successful."

"No!"

Emma peeled herself out of her wet jacket and pushed away strands of blonde her that stuck to her face.

"I'm taking a shower." She stated, walking up the stairs.

"What about dinner?" Henry called after her.

"Make yourself a sandwich or something."

"But mom always cooked."

Emma sighed, realizing that she had no idea of how to be a single mother.

"I'll think of something." She finally answered, grabbing some dry clothes from her room and disappearing into the bathroom to wash off the cold that had seeped into her bones.

….

It was around noon when Emma started picking up the things she would bring Regina today.

She started with picking some books from the shelves in the study. That was the less embarrassing part.

On Regina's shelves were a lot of classics and, to Emma's surprise, a lot of history books. Regina seemed to have studied the history of the world she came to quite thoroughly, but then again, there probably wasn't that much else to do.

Emma decided to take some of the classics and also the few crime thrillers she found.

She then moved upstairs again. She had asked Henry for a travel bag in the morning and now stood on the top floor with the empty black bag in her hands, looking around the hallway. She knew where Henry's room, the guest room and the bathroom were. That only left two more doors and because Henry had extracted the bag she was holding currently from one of them she could guess that the only remaining door lead to the master bedroom.

The blonde took a deep breath and then opened the door, entering Regina's personal space. The room was neatly arranged. The covers done accurately, nothing was laying around. The queen-sized bed was the center of the room, on the right, next to the door stood an armchair and a small table. Opposite to the bed was a door that probably led to the adjoining bathroom and on the left of that door stood a huge white closet.

Slowly Emma moved across the room, noticing the picture of a much younger Henry and a much happier looking Regina on the nightstand, and came to stand in front of the closet.

She took a last deep breath before opening the doors.

The content's weren't really a surprise. There were a lot of black and grey slacks, and blouses in different colors. Also at least 20 different blazers as well as pencil skirts and dresses.

Emma took a few pieces of everything, wondering what Regina wore when she was at home. Opening another door she found a shelf of silken pajamas and drawers with socks and underwear. Swallowing Emma packed a few items into the black bag without looking at them too accurately and smiled when she discovered a hoodie and yoga pants in the back of one of the shelves.

When the bag was filled, she carefully closed the closet doors again and moved back to the door. Leaving the master bedroom Emma couldn't help but smile at the absurdity of the whole situation. She never imagined herself living in Regina's mansion one day, picking clothes from the former mayor's closet and driving out to the woods on a daily basis to make sure Regina was okay.

It all felt like… like taken from an alternate universe.

She walked back down the stairs and found Regina's mobile phone in the study and put it into the travel bag as well as the recharger before her glance fell on the clock and she decided to take a turn over to the sheriff's station.

Even though, honestly, she didn't really know why she would show up there at all, considering that the monarchy the town had turned into didn't need a sheriff's office, because there simply was no one who would act up against their beloved leaders. And also, who cared about her opinion, anyways?

Still she stopped at the station and went into her office to sit down at the desk for a while.

She checked the answering machine to find it once again without any messages and looked through some old records that needed to be signed and filed away, but she couldn't bring herself to actually get started on this. Who cared about those records anyway since the whole Fairytaleland-memories came back to the people?

Watching the minutes tick away on the clock that hung opposite her desk Emma felt terribly displaced.

She came here because of her son and had stayed because she had, for the first time in forever, actually made some friends and found people she wanted to have around.

Then her whole life got turned upside down when the curse broke and she discovered that the woman she had got to know and appreciate as her best friend was her mother who had, to be honest, some very annoying ideas of a happily ever after if only you had faith.

Never being one to _believe_ in anything easily, Emma found that character trade of her mother's, and her father's as well, difficult to deal with from the beginning, but only felt the whole impact of it right now.

Her hands began to tremble when thinking about her parents and about the uncomfortable talk they would have to have at some point and she clenched them into fists.

She didn't want to show how she felt about all of this, much rather have her parents understand that there were certain rules that applied to everyone, not only in this land, but more detailed in her presence.

If they wanted her to stay with them, she wanted them to accept her and her belief system, even if it was a whole different one from theirs. After all, it was her parents' decision to send her to his world, so it also was their problem if she didn't believe in monarchies and imprisonments without causes.

Thinking about this she quickly felt her thoughts turning in circles and tried to think about something else.

Outside some dog barked and that brought the distraction she needed- Pongo, that stupid Dalmatian. She grabbed the phone and dialed Archie's number.

"Archie? It's Emma. I wonder if Pongo has come home?"

"No. You haven't found him yet? Oh poor little Pongo. What if he starves to death out there alone?"

"It's a dog, Archie.", Emma sighed, "Of course he won't starve to death. I'll continue looking for him. You'll hear from me."

She ended the call and when looking up at the clock again she was relieved to find it almost showing 1, so Henry would be finished with school any minute.

She grabbed her things and left the station to drive over to the school and pick him up to visit Regina. At the thought of the brunette her mood lit up a little. That at least would be the better part of the day.

Parking in front of the gate to the schoolyard Henry already came up to her and settled into the passenger seat.

"Will we visit mom now?", he asked before he even buckled up and Emma couldn't help but smile at his eagerness to see Regina.

"Yes.", she answered and started the engine to drive the by now familiar way to Toll Bridge.

During the short walk to the cabin Henry looked up at her.

"So… How will this work?" he asked.

"Well…"

To be honest, Emma hadn't really thought about that yet. She just knew that mother and son wanted to see each other, but considering that Regina told her just yesterday she couldn't even touch the door handle that could actually become quite difficult.

"Well let's just see, okay?"

The cabin came into their view and Emma stopped dead in her tracks.

In front of the wooden cabin sat a very wet and very dirty Dalmatian.

"Pongo!" Henry called out and the dog immediately ran towards them and Henry began clapping him.

"Did you leave him here with mom?", Henry asked.

"No, I certainly didn't."

Emma couldn't believe it. She had walked through the woods for hours to find this godforsaken dog and now he just decided to sit there in front of the cabin as if waiting to be let in?

Pets, Emma knew why she never had one.

They walked up to the porch of the cabin and Emma turned to Henry- and Pongo.

"You wait there for now, okay? And please hold Pongo. I don't want him to be turned in halves or something."

The blonde knocked at the door and waited for the response from inside. When it came she opened the door and entered the living room where Regina already stood waiting.

"Hey." Emma offered a smile but as soon as Regina saw Henry waiting outside she looked right through Emma.

"Henry!"

She moved as close to the invisible electric dome as she dared.

"Mom!"

Henry moved closer as well.

"No, stop!" Regina called out when he was about to stand in the doorframe.

"I really can't go in?", he asked and Emma and Regina both could see the remaining peace of hope falling from their son's features.

"I'm afraid not.", Regina answered sadly, "and I won't let you try."

"Why?"

The question came from Henry but it was one which Emma also wanted to know the answer to.

"So it's not just an invisible wall?" Emma asked and stepped next to Regina.

With a bitter smile the brunette turned to look at the sheriff.

"No, it's not Miss Swan. It's more like an electrical fence."

She turned to look at Henry again.

"Seriously? I mean, I can walk right through it. Is it like, a fence you have for horses or something?"

Regina almost had the urge to laugh but at the same time wanted to cry, because if the blonde sheriff seriously felt nothing at all crossing the spells boundaries, the magic lessons they were about to have would be terribly difficult.

"Let's just say it's more than just a little discomforting when you come into touch with it." Regina finally answered and fully turned her attention back to her son.

It warmed her heart to see him and to know that he actually wanted to see her too, but at the same time she felt the sadness and anger of not being able to touch him.

"How are you, Henry? Is everything alright at school and living with Miss Swan?"

Henry took a moment to consider the strange situation he found himself in but finally decided that if this would be the best he could get, he would go with it.

Sitting down on the porch, Pongo laying down next to him, he answered:

"School's fine. We got an A on out science project and living with Emma is quite okay. She can't cook though."

Regina couldn't help the smirk coming to her lips as she turned to briefly look at the blonde, who shot their son a warning glance only to get a laugh in reply.

"What? You can't cook.", he repeated.

"You can always starve, if you don't like what I make." Emma answered with a shrug, taking three cushions from the couch, giving one to Henry and offering a second to Regina while sitting down on the remaining one herself.

Regina looked at her son and his birthmother for a moment, before letting the cushion fall to the floor as well and sitting down on it.

"So how is it Pongo's here?" Henry asked, petting the dog.

"He's here since the morning. I heard him whining and scratching at the door but, well, I couldn't let him in, but obviously he stayed anyway.", Regina answered.

"At least now I don't have to walk hours through this forest anymore." Emma said.

"Yeah, now you can go back to being sheriff again." Henry stated.

"Yeah."

"Not too keen on working for your parents?" Regina asked, not able to help the taunting.

"Actually, right now, I'm really not, besides the fact that there simply is nothing to work on. I guess my parents' only worry were you and now after they think they've solved that problem everyone seems pretty happy."

An uneasy silence fell over the three: Emma regretting to have said something like that in front of Henry and Regina holding back a snapping comment for Henry's behalf.

"Emma brought you something." Henry finally broke the silence.

"Oh yeah, right.", Emma answered gesturing towards the black travel bag she had placed on the couch table earlier.

"I brought what you asked for. I hope what I picked is okay."

"I'm sure it will do.", Regina answered, already looking forward to change into other clothes, whatever the blonde may have picked from her closet.

"And your phone's there, too, so you can call whenever you need something."

"I think I'm able to care for myself."

"Uhh yeah, I meant, you know, something from the outside world."

Henry watched the exchange between his mothers attentively, before asking what he had thought about from the beginning:

"So what are you going to do about this?", he gestured towards the invisible barrier in the door frame.

Emma felt discomfort bubbling up. She believed in her idea of learning to use magic, but she hadn't told Henry yet and she wasn't so sure he would take it that well, considering… Well, considering.

But when Regina gave her an unmistakable look she sighed and reluctantly began to explain:

"Well I thought about what you told me at Granny's yesterday. You said you were okay with me having magic if it would enable me to get inside the spell and help your mom get out. So to actually make that work I need to be able to control my magic, so I can break the spell."

Henry looked at his blonde mother and Emma felt as if he could see right through her. How was it even possible that a twelve-year old could make her feel so exposed?

After a long moment of silence Henry asked:

"So you want to learn to use magic?"

"Yes." Emma answered, unconsciously kneading her hands in agitation.

"And mom's going to teach you?"

The two women exchanged a short glance before Regina answered: "Yes I will."

"Will it get you out of here?", he now directly looked at the brunette.

"Hopefully.", she answered and hoped it sounded more convincing than it felt.

Henry was silent again. Both women, knowing him quite well, could tell that he was thinking the idea through, possibly in any ways he could imagine.

Finally he looked up at both of them.

"If learning magic really breaks this spell, then I'm okay with it. I want you to get out of here, I want you to come home." He looked at Regina and at this moment his face showed all too clearly that he was still only a child.

"But I also don't want you to become like Mr Gold or Cora or the Evil Queen." He said, turning to look at Emma.

The blonde sighed in relief at the boys words and reached right through the invisible barrier to take his hand.

"I won't, I promise."

Regina felt jealousy flooding her at the scene in front of her. She could literally see Emma's hand crossing the barrier that kept her a prisoner but she told herself to focus on the positive things. Henry had agreed to the magic lessons and he also wanted her to come home to him. She decided that this would be enough to get through all of this, no matter how long it would take.

…

Emma was nervous when she walked the familiar way from the bridge to the cabin.

Until now her day had been absolute average.

She had breakfast with Henry, took a run along the beach and rejected three calls from her parents. Now she was about to have her first lesson on how to use magic and she was so very nervous about that. Even though she hoped it would work, there were still doubts deep inside if she could deal with all of this.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked at the door and opened it on Regina's "Come in."

The brunette stood in the small kitchen, pouring coffee into a mug.

"Do you want some as well?" she asked and held up the pot while Emma closed the door behind her.

"Yes, please.", the blonde replied, maybe it would calm her down a little.

She took the mug from the former mayor's hands and followed her to the living area. Emma stood next to the coffee table looking around the cabin before finally asking:

"So how is this going to work?"

Regina took a deep breath, sitting down in the armchair. This would require a lot of patience from her side.

"Sit down."

Emma did as asked and took a sip from her coffee cup before following the brunette's example and setting it down on the table.

Regina began to explain:

"Handling magic is difficult and it can be dangerous if used wrong. Magic is energy. It flows in your veins like blood does."

"And you really are sure about that?" Emma interrupted.

Regina sighed.

"I can see it, so yes."

"Seriously? Like really see it?"

"Yes."

This time Regina's sigh was more annoyed and it actually let Emma fall silent again.

"I can see the magic in your veins and that also is the first part of your lessons. You have to learn to see it, feel it. Only if you're aware of it you can start to control it."

"So what do I do?"

"As I've said. Magic is energy. It's inside of you and that's the first thing that will enable you to use it but having magic inside of you doesn't do much if there's no magic around you. Imagine it pervading the space around you like a spider's web. Only if you're aware of the magic in and around you, you will be able to control it."

Emma nodded slowly.

"Understood."

"Okay. Accessing magic requires strong emotions. Love, hate, anger."

"I should probably take from love?"

"It's the healthiest option."

"Noted."

"So concentrate on those emotions and what they do to your body. Your magic will center where you center the emotions and you should feel it."

Emma closed her eyes and thought about Henry. He was the only thing she ever truly loved in her life, the only person who returned this love without disappointing her, without abandoning her. She thought about how he turned up in front of her door in Boston and how he begged her to stay in Storybrooke. She remembered all the times he had put all his hopes on her. She felt her heart warm at those memories, felt the tingling sensation they caused in her chest.

Regina was surprised at the sight of the blonde's concentrating magic. The brunette could see the sheriff's chest glow in the light blue color of her magic.

"That's great." She heard herself say and bit her tongue at the overpositive word she used "Can you feel it?"

Emma found it hard to uphold the memories and emotions and talk to Regina at the same time but she managed to say:

"I… I don't know."

Regina sighed. That would have been too easy.

"What do you feel?" she instead asked.

Emma once again concentrated on the warm feeling in her chest which was paired with that strange but yet comfortable tingling.

When she voiced this to Regina the brunette answered:

"That tingling sensation you feel? That's it. That's your magic."

"But it feels… comfortable, normal. I think it's always been there when I think about love." Emma opened her eyes and as soon as she took in the sight of the cabin and the other woman in front of her she lost her focus and the feelings in her chest faded away.

She instead focused her gaze on the brunette, waiting for her to explain.

Regina took a few sips from her coffee before answering Emma's questioning gaze.

"It feels "normal" to you, because it is. Your magic, it didn't only come to you since the curse broke, you've always had it in you. So it's only natural you feel comfortable with it. Now since you feel it in you, you should try to see it around you as well. Just concentrate on your emotions again, feel your magic centering and this time open your eyes. Magic is always drawn to more magic. That's the reason it's only effective if the realm you live in has it. Open your eyes and try to see the web of it around you."  
Emma nodded and once again focused on her memories with Henry. She could feel the tingling sensation return and as instructed she opened her eyes when it did.

At first she only saw the wooden walls of the cabin and Regina sitting in the armchair and she felt the tingling slowly fade away.

"Stay focused" the brunette's voice admonished her.

So the blonde tried and conjured the emotions up again, feeling the tingling increasing again. She tried to imagine a spider's web of magic in the room and gasped when it actually unfolded itself in front of her eyes.

"There you go." Regina said and couldn't help but smile at the blonde's totally [insert fitting adjective] expression.

But Emma was too surprised by this new way of perceiving her surroundings to really notice. All around her were thin threads of magic that were almost translucent but shimmered silverish every time she moved her eyes a little. It was beautiful and yet a little scary. She turned to look at Regina and gasped again. Around the brunette the web was much thicker, almost nontransparent at a few points. It also wasn't just thicker with the shimmering threads but also had a faint of purple color to it. Regina herself was practically glowing purple.

Emma was totally captured by this image. It was stunningly beautiful and yet strangely frightening. _Like the Evil Queen must have been,_ she thought and with that thought and her next blink she felt her new way of seeing disappear until the only thing left around her were the plain wooden cabin walls.

She blinked a few more times, feeling more than a little dizzy and a little bit as if she were on drugs.

"That's… That's magic?" she asked, leaning back on the couch she was seated on and closing her eyes for a moment, waiting for a wave of dizziness to pass.

"That's magic." Regina answered, noticing how exhausted the other woman was from this first exercise. It would be a long journey to get her strong enough to break the spell.

When Emma opened her eyes again she focused her gaze on Regina.

"You were, like, glowing purple there was so much magic around you. You really can't use it?"

Regina once again felt anger bubbling up at the mention of it.

"No." she replied, harder than intended, "the bracelet is blocking all of it."

"So you can't _see_ like that anymore?" Emma asked, rubbing her temples where she felt a headache rising.

"Oh I can" the brunette answered bitterly while simultaneously trying to access her magic only to once again be cut from it, "I can _see_ the magic around us. I can _feel_ my own magic, I can even shift it through my body, hell, I could make my eyes glow with it, I just can't extract it."

"You can make your eyes glow?"

Seriously?, that was what the blonde got from all of this. The former mayor felt the sudden need to knock her head against the doorframe. Why did she sign up for this?

Emma, even though exhausted and feeling the beginnings of a full-blown headache, noticed the foolishness of her last question.

"Forget that last question. Is it normal to feel exhausted? I mean, I didn't really **do** anything."

The brunette was relieved to find that the blonde obviously did get more of the lessons than her last question had proposed.

"It is." She replied now, "Though you only accessed your magic and didn't use it yet, you had to focus a lot on conjuring the emotions to do so. It will get easier and faster over time, but later on you will use your magical energy which also drains a lot from you."

"So basically whenever I use magic I take a huge part of my battery?"

"Basically, yes." Regina replied, noticing the disorientated look creeping into the blonde's eyes and starting to worry.

She had witnessed a lot of first-magic-lessons but never had someone seemed so utterly exhausted after one. Especially since this exercise didn't draw anything else than the energy some would use for running or thinking, there was nothing magical about it just yet.

Emma had leant back against the couch again and closed her eyes. The nagging headache got worse with the second and she felt like the room was spinning around her even with her eyes closed.

"Miss Swan?" Regina asked, watching with ever-growing worry how the blonde seemed close to passing out.

"Emma!" She got up and walked over to the couch the sheriff was seated on and carefully shook her shoulder.

"What?" the blonde snapped out of the haze in her head and blinked a few times for her blurred vision to clear but without much success.

Regina felt her pulse rising. Never had she seen someone being so physically affected by accessing their natural magic.

"Emma, lay down." She instructed, not noticing how much her voice sounded like the one of a worried mother. She plumped up the pillow on the side of the couch and helped the disorientated blonde lay down.

Watching how the sheriff immediately fell asleep (or fainted, she couldn't tell) she took a few steps backward to get a spare blanket from the bedroom and mentally went through the recent events again.

Spreading out the blanket over the blonde and sitting down in the armchair again, sipping her coffee and closely watching the unconscious woman, she tried to figure out what would have caused Emma's severe reaction to this first attempt at magic.

She went through what she had told the blonde. Magic was emotion: love, hate, anger. Knowing her and Cora, Emma most certainly took from love. That would not take this much energy, would it?

Regina tried to remember the last time she used love to access magic and could not remember having ever done so. The only memories she had about love and magic were the failed attempts in the beginnings of her apprenticeship with Rumplestiltskin and they were, well, ineffective. Ever since then she took from hatred and anger, pain even and then it hit her.

Emma Swan probably had as much of a beautiful childhood as she herself had. Coming through the portal with a 7-year-old at the side of a road, she had spent her entire childhood in orphanages or foster families. Now Regina did have a lot of time to do some reading on this world and she also used to watch the news regularly, to know that the foster system did not work like it should. She remembered news reports on children being freed from foster families, abused physically and sexually, on assaults in orphanages and other facilities that should provide comfort for children without families.

The brunette looked at the sleeping form of the blonde and all of a sudden she understood why taking magic from love was such a big deal for the other woman. Emma probably didn't have much more experience on love than Regina had. The only person Regina knew the blonde loved was Henry and they didn't know each other for that long yet.

Sympathy for the sheriff flooded her. For the first time she realized how similar both their pasts must have been and yet today Emma managed to do what Regina never had the courage to honestly try: taking love as the source of magic.

Would her life have gone different had she taken magic from love? Would it have been different if she had believed in love again after her mother had killed Daniel?

Daniel.

Images formed in her head of days long ago and long forgotten. Images of a younger version of herself, smiling, laughing. Images of Daniel, the stable boy, the only man she ever loved.

When Emma rolled over on the couch Regina snapped out of the memories to realize tears had started falling from her eyes. She quickly brushed them away, slapping herself mentally to let her mind wander off to such things.

They were unimportant. Those memories were just that, memories. Useless memories of a time that'll never come back.

Feeling the sudden urge to move around Regina got up from the armchair and took the two mugs to the kitchen, starting to do the dishes.

…

The magic lessons had become a regular part of Emma's days. She would go for a run in the mornings, then visit Regina for a lesson and later take Henry home from Granny's where he mostly stayed after school if he didn't want to be alone at the mansion or went home with a friend.

It would have been much easier if he could have stayed with her parents, but Emma just wasn't yet ready to talk to them again. She wanted to, but she felt like the only thing they would do would be defending their choices and not trying to understand Emma's, so she did what she was always good at: avoiding.

While walking towards the cabin Emma mentally prepared for the new lesson and could, even from a distance, see the dome that lay over the wooden house.

After the first lesson she had fallen asleep on the couch and awoken hours later, still having a terrible headache.

Regina had explained to her that it would get easier with the time and, what really surprised the blond, told her that she did well with accessing her magic.

So for the last two weeks they mostly worked on accessing and seeing magic. Emma learned that everyone's magic looked different. When in the third lesson she was able to uphold her concentration for longer she had looked down on herself and saw that she, in comparison to Regina, glowed a light blue. The dome that the spell had created had a faint blue shimmer but was mostly silverish. Regina said this colormix would be typical for fairymagic because it mostly came from the fairy-dust and not from the fairies as persons.

So walking towards the cabin Emma felt a little proud to be able to just 'switch' to her magical way of seeing. With a short knock at the door she announced herself to Regina and then opened the door to stand right in front of the normally invisible barrier.

The blonde knew she could easily pass it, but since she began seeing it, it felt different. For once it took her more courage to step through it because, honestly, it gave an image of a concrete wall when directly facing it. For the other part she could now **feel** it when she passed. It was a strange tingling sensation, not like the one that arose with her own magic but like tongues licking at her, trying to get in but failing. It was an odd experience.

After Emma closed the door behind her she looked around only to find Regina laying on the couch, seemingly asleep. The sight surprised the blonde. Never had she seen Regina sleeping. Why would she? But the sight of the brunette on the couch was unusually beautiful. Not that she wasn't a beautiful woman when awake, but sleeping she seemed so relaxed and innocent. Looking at this woman Emma could never imagine her being the Evil Queen.

Emma found a smile curling on her lips when she walked over to stand next to the couch.

"Regina?" she asked tentatively so not to scare the former mayor, but obviously failed because the brunette immediately sat up straight, looking around a little confused, before focusing on the blonde.

"Hey.", Emma smiled shrugging, "I didn't really have the intention to wake you, I would have left again."

Regina blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes.

"No, it's okay.", she said although still feeling a little groggy. She took a deep breath and moved over on the couch to make space next to her for Emma to sit down.

"So what do we do today?", the blonde asked when she was seated and looking at Regina with an almost childlike expression. Regina found herself smiling at the sheriff's motivation for their lessons.

"Today we're gonna start using your magic, not only seeing and feeling it."

"Okay…"

"I'm sure you'll do fine."

Regina pointed towards a candle she had placed on the table already.

"You're gonna try to move this candle."

"How?"

"The candle in itself is not magical, so you have to take from your magical energy and from the magic around you to make it move. Just imagine your magic flowing out of your fingertips and changing the web around the candle, pushing it away."

Emma nodded and the brunette could see her concentrating and her magic brightening up. She could see how the blonde forced it to move to her fingertips and towards the candle which didn't move an inch, though.

Looking up at Regina again Emma asked with a hint of disappointment: "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing", the former mayor answered, "you just have to take more from the surrounding magic. Imagine that it's holding the candle in place. When you force energy onto it, it'll have to work against the surrounding magic and you'll have to use a lot of energy. When you connect your magic with the web and make it work **with** you, it'll work without you having to use all your powers."

"That's why magic only works when it's surrounding you, right? That's why it doesn't work outside Storybrooke and why it didn't work here either before the curse broke?" the blonde concluded.

"Yes. I see, you're learning."

"I have a good teacher."

Regina found herself almost blushing at this comment and felt the need to look somewhere else than at Emma. This was probably the nicest thing someone had said to her in years and it affected her way more than she'd like it to.

Sensing a shift of energy Regina looked up at the candle and saw it moving very slightly. The movement was very slow and very little but it was there nonetheless.

"Good.", the brunette complimented and felt a little proud herself that she, indeed, seemed to be a good teacher.

Leaning against the back of the couch Emma let her magic go again. It was already hard to just focus on seeing and feeling it, using it was a whole different thing.

Regina watched Emma closely and could even after this 20 minute exercise see the signs of exhaustion on her face. Not wanting the blonde to pass out again she said:

"I think that's enough for today. You took from your magical energy for the first time and have to recover from it, even if it wasn't much. Over time you'll be able to use more of it without exhausting so fast."

"Yeah, right. Over time." Emma sighed annoyed. Everything took so much time and she really was no patient person.

At the moment all she really wanted to do was to get Regina out of this goddamn cabin and back to the mansion.  
Emma felt more and more overwhelmed with the task of being a single mother. She never imagined seeing her child again when she gave him away all those years ago and raising him alone now? It was hard and she felt it only got harder.

Henry was a great kid and he loved her, she knew, but he also was just that, a kid. He would always argue about doing his homework, trying every flimsy excuse to skip it. He would complain about her inexistent cooking skills, which she couldn't even deny. Of course they ate at Granny's a lot but truth be told, Henry had been used to a good warm meal at home for years and Emma could see he wasn't happy that this now rarely happened anymore.

Also Emma wondered how Regina had kept the house clean. It was a huge mansion in which she was now living alone with a 12-year old that would certainly never come up with the idea of helping her with cleaning.

So right now Emma just wanted to have Regina home to manage everything as she had down so well over all these past years.

Regina could sense Emma's frustration but didn't really know how to react.

She wanted to offer some kind of comfort, tell her that everything would be just fine but she wasn't really sure it would be.

Instead she settled for a safer topic to distract the blonde and asked:

"How's Henry?"

"He's fine, but I think he misses you more than he admits." Emma answered, a small smile appearing on her lips.

Regina only nodded. It warmed her heart to hear that Henry missed her. It showed her that he really did forgive her and wanted to be with her. Though it didn't make it any better to be stuck in this cabin, if anything it only made it harder. She was just so tired of seeing the wooden walls day in and day out. It slowly began feeling as if they were coming closer, the rooms becoming smaller every day. The blonde's visits made her forget about that feeling for an hour or so but every time she left it would return. It was driving Regina crazy.

Also now, though the sheriff was still seated next to her, she could feel a headache growing. It was the same headache that had caused her to fall asleep before Emma had shown up.

She unconsciously rubbed her temples and closed her eyes for a moment, willing her thoughts to stop from spinning.

"Would you like me to bring Henry here again soon?"

Emma's question made Regina look up in surprise and she found the blonde offering her a shy smile. She must have thought that the thoughts of Henry and not being able to be with him upset her. Regina suddenly felt a wave of comfort rolling over her and was equally surprised and terrified about it. She was so unused to someone showing gentle kindness to her, especially if that someone was Emma Swan.

"Yes." She said eventually, "yes that would be nice."

Even though Emma's guess had not been 100 percent right Regina still appreciated the gesture and the perspective of seeing Henry again lit up her mood.

Emma was relieved to see a smile curling at Regina's lips when she answered. She could sense that the brunette was not too happy about the whole situation, and seriously who could blame her for that?

But thinking about Henry, she really had to pick him up. They had finished their little magic lesson early today and Emma wanted to pick up on the opportunity and spend some more time with him. She felt that between all of the unsolved conflicts he was coming short lately.

So she got up from the couch and looked at Regina.

"I guess I'll go for today, pick up Henry and ask him when he wants to come here again."

"Yes. Of course."

Regina found herself a little too disappointed that their time together had been so short today but she didn't want the blonde to push her magic too far too soon and besides their magic lessons there was nothing really that would keep the blonde here.

She got up to follow Emma as far to the door as she could but felt a sudden wave of dizziness, causing her to stumble back a step and blindly reaching out for the back of the couch to keep her upright.

"Regina!" Emma called out when she saw the brunette struggling to stand and rushed back to her.

The former mayor's vision was still blurred and only started clearing, when she sat down again and leaned her head heavily against the back of the couch. She felt Emma sitting down next to her again.

"Regina, what's wrong with you?" the blonde asked, concern swinging in her voice.

Regina felt weak and the headache that had been tolerable before was now a pounding pain and then there was the sudden cold. She wondered how it had gotten so cold inside the small cabin and felt herself shiver.

"Regina?"

She opened her eyes to find Emma staring at her. The blonde's face was painted with real concern and it made her feel strangely good to know that someone was actually worrying about her, though she certainly didn't need someone to.

"I'm fine, Ms Swan." She answered and immediately cleared her throat after hearing how small and pained she had sounded.

"You're most definitely not." Emma objected.

Without having the chance to object, the blonde reached out and laid a hand on her forehead to find it burning.

"Regina, you're running a fever and it's high." Emma stated, "have you been feeling ill for longer?"

Unable to hold up her outer composure beyond the increasing headache and dizziness Regina decided that she could as well tell the sheriff the truth.

"A little. Since the morning, or yesterday afternoon, maybe."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was fine."

"Well, now you're not."

Regina felt Emma's hand reach out for hers.

"Let's get you into bed." The blond directed.

"I'm capable of taking care of myself."

Though she felt terrible it made her feel even more uncomfortable to be taken care of by the blonde and Regina rejected to take the offered hands and instead rose to her feet on her own.

She immediately regretted the choice, though, because as soon as she was standing she felt the world spinning heavily around her and quickly lost sense of which of the 10 floors she saw was the one she was actually standing on.

"Sure you are." Emma said, reaching for the brunette's waist to keep her from falling, "I'm gonna walk you to your bedroom now and then I'm gonna get you some meds and probably a thermometer, too. No discussion."

Slowly the two women walked the short way into the cabin's bedroom and Emma let Regina lay down on the bed.

"Will you be okay if I leave now?" the blonde asked, concerned about how serious the brunette's state was.

"Of course." Came the stubborn answer and Emma couldn't help the grin that was showing on her face.

She left the cabin and walked back to her car to drive back to town.

It took her almost an hour to get the drugs from the pharmacy, some groceries from the store and to explain to Henry that she would come home later today and he had to be on his own for the day.

When she re-entered the cabin she left the bags she was carrying in the kitchen and only took the thermometer she had brought to the bedroom.

Regina had fallen asleep but quickly awoke when she sat down at the side of the bed.

"Hey, I'm back. How are you feeling?"

"Terrible." The brunette answered, not trying to pretend otherwise any longer.

"I brought a thermometer, open your mouth."

Emma tucked the thing under the former mayor's tongue and waited for it to beep. When it did, the display read 102 and the sheriff's heart sank a little. Regina was seriously sick.

"I'm gonna get you something against the fever." She said before getting up and returning to the kitchen to fill a glass with water and getting the Advil she had bought. She brought both back to the bedroom and handed the glass and one pill to the brunette.

Regina took the pill and gave her a small smile before falling back into the pillows and closing her eyes again.

Emma sat at the side of the bed, watching the brunette closely. The woman was sick and even though Emma was sure that she could take her of herself she felt bad to leave her alone. She knew from own experience that being alone when sick was one of the worst feelings. Sighing she got up from the bed and left the room to get her phone. She had already made her decision.

She scrolled through her contacts and then held the phone to her ear.

"Henry? It's Emma. Yeah, I'm with your mom. She's… well, she's sick, the flu or something, just…would you mind to ask Ruby if you could stay with her and Granny tonight? I don't wanna leave your mom alone."

She could hear Henry talking to someone, probably Ruby, before he got back to his phone, saying that it was okay to stay with the waitress.

"Great. See you tomorrow, then."

"Take care of mom, okay?"

Emma smiled at the concern in his voice.

"I will, promise."

She ended the call and then stood in the middle of the small kitchen and felt a little lost.

Regina kept the cabin in the same perfectly clean way she had kept her mansion, which was a thing Emma still admired her for. The cabin had no TV, so she couldn't watch any movie or series and since Regina hadn't asked for a computer there was no such thing either.

Sighing, Emma left the kitchen and dropped down on the couch. Even now after only a few minutes "alone", Emma got a vague feeling of how lonely and incredibly boring Regina's life in this cabin must be and a wave of sympathy flooded her, followed by the inevitable anger she still had against her parents who were responsible for this situation.

But instead of letting that anger fuel her right now she decided to instead make the best of the situation for both, Regina and her. For now the brunette was asleep, but Emma wanted to make her feel as comfortable as possible in her situation, when she would wake up.

She left her lazy position on the couch and started to put away the groceries she had bought earlier, arranging them in the same neat pattern the whole pantry was organized after. Then she started the coffee machine. While she waited for the machine to finish brewing she realized that this was basically everything that could be done right now and she sighed again.

Looking around the cabin again she noticed the books Regina had asked for, that were now standing on one of the cabins few shelves. Emma wasn't a big reader. Actually the only thing she ever read was the local pages of the newspaper and not even that on a regular basis. But taking into account her current situation she decided that reading a book couldn't be any worse than just staring at the walls.

She poured herself of the, by now finished, coffee and walked over to the shelf to scan the titles. Of course she was the one who had picked them out, but back then she didn't really give them any attention.

Now she did. There was _Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Gulliver's Travels_ but also Stephen Kings _It._ None of them seemed very appealing to Emma. Already almost giving up on the reading-decision she spotted another book on the top shelf. It most likely had been laying there since before the cabin became Regina's prison because when Emma took it down a huge cloud of dust followed it and Emma had to stop a sneezing fit before she was able to read the title.

 _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,_ it read in curved letters.

Looking down at the old book for a few moments Emma decided it would be the best she'd get so she walked over to the couch and settled down to start reading.

Always being more of a TV than a book person, she had, of course, seen the movie, but what was it that book nerds always said? The book is always better than the movie.

Let's see about that, Emma thought and opened the book to the first page.

….

It was in the middle of chapter three when Emma heard noises. She looked up from the pages and listened closely to be sure she not only imagined them, but there definitely were what sounded like muffled sobs coming from the bedroom.

The blonde immediately put the book down on the coffee table and stood up to check on the sick former mayor.

But standing in front of the bedroom door, she suddenly wasn't so sure if it were a good idea to just enter the room. Standing there thinking for a few moments, Emma couldn't bear the continuing sobs anymore and shortly knocked before she finally entered the room.

She was surprised to find Regina still asleep. The former queen had her eyes closed tightly and was curled up on her side, the comforter tossed down to the foot of the bed. She was still asleep but crying and whimpering incomprehensible words.

Emma's heart clenched at the sight of it. They might have had their differences but seeing the usually so put together brunette so vulnerable and obviously fighting the horrors of a nightmare surely affected Emma. That and also the memories the picture brought up for herself, about nights in foster homes when she had felt the same, had woken up screaming from her own nightmares or because one of the other children cried during their sleep.

Shaking her head the blonde tried to get rid of these uncomfortable feelings and instead focused on the brunette. She sat down on the side of the bed and carefully put a hand on the former mayor's shoulder.

"Regina.", she said gently but firmly, "Regina, wake up. It's just a dream."

First there was no reaction but the continuous sobs, so Emma tried again, this time slightly louder.

"Regina."

The brunette shot around violently and stared at her with eyes wide of horror.

"It's ok. There's only me here. It was just a dream." Emma tried to calm down the other woman, offering a comforting smile.

It took a moment for Regina's mind to catch up, too real was the image her dreams had formed only moments prior.

Looking at the blonde sheriff now, her heart was still racing while she told herself to calm down and that reality held no threat for her right now.

Feeling her pulse slowing down she took a deep breath and realized that tears were trailing down her cheeks. Feeling painfully embarrassed to be in such a state in front of the sheriff she quickly turned away and brushed her hands over her face to get rid of the tears.

"Are you okay?", she heard the blonde asking and her voice sounded so very gentle and comforting that part of Regina wanted to just start crying all over again. But that wouldn't happen, she told herself, not now and not any other time and definitely not in presence of Emma Swan.

So she took another deep breath and turned around to face the blonde.

"Yes.", she answered and was interrupted by a sneezing, "just a dream, like you said."

From the look on Emma's face Regina could tell that the sheriff wasn't believing a word she said and the sympathy that her expression showed made Regina swallow heavily once again. But all the blonde said was "Ok." and Regina was relieved that she would drop the subject for now.

"But now that you're already awake, how are you feeling? Any better?"

Regina swallowed a sigh. Talking about her health was not that much better than talking about her feelings but she knew that right now it was the safer topic and somehow she was thankful that someone actually cared about her well-being.

"I'm still feeling sick but at least the headache's gone."

"That's the Advil. I'll get the thermometer to check how far your fever has gone down."

The sheriff got up to walk back to the kitchen when another loud sneezing erupted from the brunette.

"And probably also the family pack Kleenex.", she added, smiling.

Back in the kitchen she grabbed both, along with another glass of water and also checked the meds she bought for some decongestants.

Bringing everything back to the bedroom she sat down on the bedside again.

"Here, that first.", she handed Regina the thermometer and waited for her to tuck it under her tongue. When it beeped the display read 100,4 and Emma felt more relieved than she would have thought.

"Your fever's gone down, that's good."

She handed the brunette the decongestants and the glass of water and watched her taking both.

"Do you need anything else? Are you hungry?"

"Even if I were, I don't believe you were the right person to cook, Miss Swan."

And there she was, sassy mayor Mills, but Emma couldn't help but smile. At least it meant the other woman was feeling better.

"You might not believe it.", she finally answered, "but I'm actually able to make a great instant soup."

The rolling of the former queen's eyes made Emma laugh but she got up to walk back to the kitchen anyway.

"I take it you're actually hungry, so I'll make you soup and then you can decide whether or not you're going to eat it."

Back in the kitchen Emma started the water boiler and took one of the instant soup packs she bought earlier from the pantry.

Leaning against the sideboard she thought about her current situation and couldn't help a stupid grin spreading on her lips. The whole thing was so unreal. Here she was, Emma Swan, the sheriff, the savior, Prince Charming and Snow White's child, in a cabin in the woods, taking care of a sick Regina, former Evil Queen, former mayor, her son's adoptive mom and her own mothers arch nemesis. But the weirdest thing probably was that she actually didn't mind it. She found herself enjoying the time with the brunette, before she got sick, but even now that she was playing nurse. It was just so much easier to be around Regina than to handle Henry 24/7 or be around her parents.

How strange everything turned out to become.

The boiling water finally reminded her of what she wanted to do and she poured the content of the instant pack into a bowl and some water over it.

Searching the kitchen's drawers for a spoon she found one in the last one and took the soup over to the bedroom, careful so to not spill anything.

When the door opened again Regina could smell the delicious smell of the soup even through her closed up nose and though she still felt weak and knew that it was just cheap instant soup, her stomach didn't mind and cheered at the thought of it.

Emma handed her the bowl and spoon and then sat down at the side of the bed again.

Taking a few spoonfuls of the soup Regina decided that it wasn't even that bad, or her taste buds were just too insensitive because of the cold but it was definitely eatable. After a few moments though she couldn't help but feel observed with the sheriff just sitting next to her.

"Is there any reason you are watching me eat?", she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Though there was no hostility in her words the blonde actually twitched at them and Regina wondered if she somehow felt caught.

"I thought you might like some company? I somehow understand how boring it must be always being alone out here."

"Oh so you got that from the, what, two hours you were on your own while I slept?"

The change in the sheriff's face immediately made her regret her words. She knew that the blonde had only meant well, but every time it came to the topic of her imprisonment she just couldn't help the anger and her injured pride.

"I'm sorry.", the blonde now said and was about to get up when Regina realized she had to react.

"No, Emma, wait."

There was surprise on Emma's features and somehow Regina had surprised herself with actually saying that sentence, but now she had already started, so she could as well continue.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. You just meant well. I'm just… annoyed by this cabin and of being sick. I'm sorry. I appreciate that you're here, so you can also stay and keep me company while I eat, if you want."

Finishing her sentence and re-thinking it she felt strangely stupid for sounding so… sappy and had to avert her gaze from Emma and now instead looked at her bowl of soup.

It was quiet for a moment before Regina could feel that the blonde had settled down on the bed again.

Emma couldn't help feeling a little hurt by the brunette snapping at her but was pleasantly surprised of the following excuse.

Sitting back down on the side of the bed she simply sighed.

"You know that you're one hell of a complicated woman.", she eventually said. Regina, who had continued eating, looked up at her with an expression of sheer disbelief that actually made Emma laugh.

Regina couldn't help her expression at Emma's words and felt a little foolish when Emma started laughing. But thinking about it, Regina had to admit that the blonde's statement wasn't that far from being true. Too often she didn't understand her own feelings, so how could she expect other people to get her?

When Emma stopped laughing silence settled over the two of them again.

Right when it started to get uncomfortable Emma once again broke it.

"I started reading _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ today."

"You can read?", Regina replied, but this time making sure to sound teasing.

"Yeah, I actually can." Emma answered with a smile, "and it's not even that bad. Have you read it?"

"I did." Regina answered, before she continued eating.

"And did you like it?"

"Not really. Most of this world's stories about other realms are just terribly wrong."

"Wait, what?! You mean Oz really exists?"

"Of course it does. I think you, of all people, should know by now that there's more to this world than most people believe there is."

"Yeah. Maybe."

Watching Emma scratching her head while her face showed the progress of coming to terms with that new knowledge, Regina couldn't hold back a smile spreading on her lips. She just looked so utterly confused that it was almost cute.

In the next moment the spoon met the soupbowl with a loud clang as Regina realized where her thoughts were just headed.

"Everything ok?", Emma asked, snapping out of her thinking and watching Regina with a questioning gaze.

"Yes, yes. I was just… clumsy.", Regina hurried to answer and picked the spoon up again.

"Have you been there?"

"Hmm?"

While she was still occupied with denying her latest thoughts she had missed the blonde's last question.

"Have you been there? In Oz?", she now repeated it, a childlike curiosity showing on her face that was so much like Henry's that even if she wanted, Regina couldn't deny the blood relationship.

"No.", she eventually answered, "I've heard about it. Jefferson used to travel there a few times, but I've never actually been there."

Finishing her soup she leaned over to put the bowl down on the night stand and couldn't help a yawn.

"I think it's best if you get some more sleep, it's almost seven anyways, so we can as well call it a day.", Emma decided upon seeing the brunette yawn and got up to take the empty bowl back to the kitchen.

"I think for once, I will agree with you.", the former queen responded and pulled the comforter back up over herself.

Emma was just about to leave the room when the brunette sat up again.

"Wait. Are you staying here? What about Henry?"

"He's with Ruby and Granny for the night. He will be fine, so yes, I am staying. I'll sleep on the couch and check on you every once in a while."

The look on the brunette's face told Emma all too well that no one had ever done something like that for her before and once again sympathy for the former queen flooded her. They looked at each other for a few moments but when Emma figured she wouldn't get an answer she just continued leaving the room.

"Good Night, Regina."

She had already almost closed the door when she heard an almost inaudible "Thank you."

Smiling she returned to the kitchen and then to the living room, where she made the couch as comfortable a sleeping place as it would get and then cuddled up under a blanket to continue reading.

It actually had something romantic. A cabin in the woods in the evening, cuddled up under a blanket with a book. A smile came to Emma's lips.

But after a few attempts on continuing where she had left off she realized that her thoughts were too busy floating round Regina Mills.

The picture of seeing the usually so regal mayor cry because of a nightmare didn't let go of her. It was just too familiar a sight that she could simply tick it off and continue as if nothing happened.

Were these nightmares something Regina experienced regularly? Or did they come from the illness? Did being ill remind her of something terrible that happened a long time ago?

Emma realized that she knew nothing about the former queen's past, apart from her being, well, queen.

She knew that her father was named Henry and that she was married to Snow's father and then there was the thing with Snow being responsible for her first love's dead but that was where her knowledge ended.

Cora at least was no one Emma would have wanted as a mother, so there were certainly a lot of sad childhood days for Regina.

Thinking about the brunette, what her life might have been like and drawing possible parallels to her own, Emma began feeling more and more drawn to the other woman, but finally sleep took her over.

….

When she awoke again it was perfectly dark around her. After a few initial seconds of confusion, Emma fumbled for her mobile phone that she had left laying on the couch table next to her and when she finally got hold of it, the clock read 3.40AM.

A huge yawn escaped her while she tried to figure out what it was that had woken her at this time of the night. Listening closely she once again heard noises coming from the bedroom.

She got up to walk the short distance, switching on the living room lights on the way, and this time opened the door without any hesitation.

Leaving the door open for some light she walked over to the bed and sat down at its sight once again.

The brunette was crying and whimpering again, and Emma tried to wake her up as she had done earlier, only that none of her attempts were successful now.

Concern grew in the blonde's stomach and she carefully reached out to feel the former queen's forehead, only to find it burning once again.

"Damn it.", Emma cursed, she didn't need the thermometer to know that the Advil had worn off and the fever had come back.

A flashing of panic overtook her. Regina was definitely not only sick again, but obviously having another nightmare, and though Emma knew that she probably wasn't about to die and would wake up in the morning anyway, she felt like she had to do something about the situation now.

Once again, she gently shook the brunette's shoulders.

"Regina!" She repeated the other woman's name a few times but it held no effect, at most did the whimpering only increase.

"Damn it,", Emma cursed again, eyes never leaving Regina.

Her thoughts were running a mile a minute when she, more unconsciously than anything else, brushed a damp strand of hair from the brunette's face.

For a short moment Regina seemed to relax, before the whimpering started again.

Emma paused for a moment, before she brushed through the former mayor's hair again and earned the same reaction of temporary relaxation.

Pretty sure that her following actions would cause her an angry tirade in the morning, but also unable to stand the heartbreaking cries anymore, Emma sat down on the bed completely, leaning her back against the headboard.

She pulled the comforter up from where the brunette had tossed it at the bed's foot and pulled it over the both of them, before she started gently tracing her fingers over the brunette's temples and through her hair.

It took only a few moments until Regina started relaxing again and the cries slowly stopped.

The constant movements and Regina's again regular breathing, made Emma feel tired again and before she knew it her eyes fell shut.

…

It was a ray of sunlight coming through the curtains of the bedrooms windows that woke Regina the next morning.

Blinking her eyes open she welcomed the warm feeling the sun left on her face before the moment was gone and instead her body reminded her that she was still sick.

Feeling unable to even remotely breathe through her nose she sat up to reach for the Kleenex but was interrupted by a sneezing fit.

"I take it you're not feeling any better just yet?"

The sneezing stopping immediately the brunette spun around to look into sleepy green eyes.

"Morning.", Emma mumbled before breaking out into a huge yawn.

A thousand thoughts build up in Regina's mind at the image of the blonde sheriff next to her in the bed, but her head was so fogged with the illness that she couldn't follow up on any of them. Also still feeling terribly weak and at the beginning of another huge headache she settled for just asking the obvious question.

"Why are you in my bed, Miss Swan?"

The blonde sat up and stretched her arms and back, before she leaned back against the headboard, scanning Regina before answering.  
"You had another nightmare and your fever went back up last night…", she paused for a moment and Regina sensed that there was something more to the answer but her mind was just not up for deep emotional analyzes, and her head really hurt.

Watching the brunette closely Emma could see that she was still feeling terrible so she picked up on the chance to skip this uncomfortable conversation and got up instead.

"I'll get you another Advil and something for your nose. Do you want any breakfast?"

"No, thank you."

Emma gave the former mayor a little smile before she left the room for the kitchen.

Sun was beaming into the kitchen and Emma enjoyed the rare sight. Fall was already turning into winter so she was glad for every remaining day with sunlight and now opened the window widely. She started the coffee machine before she filled a glass with water and prepared the pills. A quick look through the kitchen's cupboards and she also found some herbal tea and decided to make a cup for Regina. Tea always helped when you were sick, didn't it?

Moving around in the kitchen a strange feeling of domesticity hit her. She enjoyed taking care of the brunette, somehow. Of course, she also took care of Henry lately but that was different, he was her son and even though she loved him, she felt obliged to care for him and at least pour him his cereal in the morning, if she couldn't cook dinner in the evenings, but with Regina Emma felt herself honestly enjoying taking care of her.

Regina had already dozed off again, when Emma re-entered the bedroom. She put the small tablet she had found and used to carry all of the things to the bedroom down on the bedside table and gently touched the former mayor's shoulder.

"Regina"

"Hmm?", the other woman mumbled sleepily and blinked her eyes open.

A smile spread on Emma's lips at the sight. The brunette was stunningly beautiful when she was so unguarded, even though she was clearly still sick.

"You can sleep some more in a moment.", she assured her and waved with the thermometer.

"Open your mouth."

Part of Regina felt uneasy being seen so unguarded by Emma Swan but another, much bigger part, enjoyed being taken care of and felt strangely safe around the blonde, so in the end she couldn't bring herself to object the sheriff's order.

She felt the thermometer being tucked under her tongue but simply closed her eyes again and waited. A few moments later she heard it beeping and then Emma's voice reading the display.

"101, not as bad as yesterday at least. Two more pills and then you can go back to sleep."

Taking a deep breath, and immediately starting to cough since she still couldn't breathe through her nose, Regina pushed herself up into a half-sitting position and took the water and pills Emma offered her, sinking back into the cushions as soon as she had swallowed them.

She felt Emma getting up from the bed and heard her walking over to the door.

"Get well soon, Regina.", she heard her saying before the door closed and she fell asleep again.

…

After two cups of coffee and another chapter of _The Wizard of Oz,_ Emma was terribly bored once again and the clock only showed 10:30. She didn't feel like reading anymore, even though the book was much better than she ever anticipated.

Still, she needed something else to do. Glancing over to the bedroom door, she decided that it wouldn't kill Regina if she would take half an hour to drive back to town and gather some things from the mansion.

She quickly wrote a note where she would be, in case the former queen would wake up while she was away and then left the cabin to walk to her car and drive back to town.

In the end it took her almost 50 minutes to get back to the cabin but at least now she had some other clothes to change into, her toothbrush and, most importantly, her laptop that would provide her from dying of boredom.

Closing the door behind her and putting down the bag she had brought on the couch, she quickly checked the bedroom only to find the former mayor still asleep.

Emma was just about to start her laptop when she, almost subconsciously, switched to her magical sight for a moment. The sight of the web around her and the spell's boundaries that overlaid the cabin's walls reminded her that the original reason she came here regularly was that she learnt using magic.

She could was well continue practicing now, couldn't she? She knew the basics and all she needed right now was some practice and maybe she would soon be able to really move that candle they had practiced with the day before.

So instead of starting the laptop Emma put it back into her bag and sat down at the couch again, staring at the candle that still stood on the couch table.

Pushing back some errand strands of blonde hair, she concentrated on the emotions she always conjured to use magic and soon felt the by now familiar tingling in her chest. As Regina said she tried to push it into the tips of her fingers and similarly imagined the translucent web to follow her will and push the candle away from her. For a few moments nothing happened and Emma was almost about to give up again, when she heard someone saying "Don't stop now."

Looking up from the candle she saw Regina standing in the living room, brown hair ruffled, eyes still sleepy but at least not feverish anymore.

"Continue trying, you're doing well.", she said again and moved closer to the couch.

Emma, usually having troubles to simultaneously look at and talk to Regina and uphold the magic, suddenly felt a strange sensation while she gave Regina that short examination and when she looked back at the candle it had actually moved several inches across the table.

Stunned by the fact that she actually did that, the magic slipped through her fingers and Emma was left feeling strangely exhausted but also foolishly happy.

She turned to fully look at Regina, who sat down next to her.

"I did it!"

"Yes, indeed you did. That was really good. You understood the principle, it will only get easier from now on.", Regina confirmed and smiled at her.

A warm feeling spread through Emma's stomach at the pride she felt over the brunette's words. She was actually capable of doing magic, she really was part of this magical world and she would be able to break the spell and free Regina from this cabin.

Regina watched Emma as the blonde enjoyed her moment of success. Her expression was one of a person that had just experienced an enormous boost of self-confidence and Regina couldn't help but be happy for the sheriff. She had seen her first attempts at magic and remembered her passing out after their very first lesson. Magic, and the emotions that were connected to it, didn't come easy to the blonde, but today she managed it and Regina was proud.

Maybe, maybe, she let herself think, there really was a way out of this cabin for her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Hmm?"

Emma's question had interrupted her thoughts and she didn't really catch it.

"I was asking how you were feeling.", the blonde now repeated, looking directly at Regina while she was playing with the candle in her hands.

"Much better.", Regina now answered, "I think it's just the pills, though, but the sleeping also helped."

"Good."

Silence settled over them but it wasn't really uncomfortable.

Emma kept playing with the candle as her object of success and every once in a while glanced at the brunette next to her who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

Emma noticed that even though she was awake and feeling better for the moment, the former queen was much more relaxed than she had ever seen her before and she felt that she liked this new, more open Regina.

They stayed silent for a few more minutes until Emma decided to ask the question that was on her mind since the last evening, even though she knew that it would probably end up with Regina putting up her walls all over again.

"Regina?"

"Hmm."

The former mayor turned her head to look at the blonde when she was spoken to.

"May I ask you something?"

Regina had the feeling that she wouldn't like the following question at all but the moment was just too nice for her to not even hear Emma out, so she only sighed and nodded.

"These nightmares, do you have them regularly?"

She didn't like the question.

Of course, the sheriff would wonder about them. Regina hated that she had even witnessed them in the first place. They were her weakness, the one thing she never talked about, the thing she denied happened even to herself unto the point when she sometimes wouldn't remember them, even after she would wake up covered in sweat with her heart racing.

And now it was Emma Swan who bore witness to her most frightening secret.

Regina hoped that if she only remained silent for long enough the blonde would just drop the topic, but even after a few minutes she could feel the questioning look on her.

"Sometimes", she eventually answered evasively and only saw the sheriff nodding in response.

"You know, I sometimes have them, too. Nightmares, I mean.", Emma began and wondered where the sudden decision to talk about that had come from.

"You do?" Regina replied and couldn't help the remark from sounding ironic. She just couldn't imagine that Emma Swan had any idea of the demons she was facing in her dreams.

"Yeah. I actually understand. You know, my childhood was filled with a lot of people to have nightmares about. The foster system isn't really the place to live a happily ever after."

The sheriff's answer had sounded calm but Regina suddenly realized that Emma might actually really understand and remembered her own thoughts about the blonde's childhood in the foster system.

Feeling guilty for snapping at the other woman, Regina looked up from the edge of the table she had fixated to turn to Emma.

"I'm sorry. I just… don't want to talk about it; can't really, either."

The sheriff returned her gaze and nodded, a sad smile appearing on her face.

"I know. Me neither."

The raw honesty in the blonde's eyes, coupled with what experiences she saw there, strangely touched Regina and she felt the need to express these feelings somehow. The words for that, though, didn't come easy to her, so in the end she simply settled for _Thank you._

"You know, for staying here."

Emma nodded.

"You're welcome."

…

For the next four days Emma swung back and forth between taking care of Regina and Henry. Though she knew that the brunette was perfectly capable of taking care of her own, especially since she was definitely much better already, Emma didn't really want to leave her alone for too long. It probably also had a lot to do with the guilt she felt for the former mayor's situation in the first place and that guilt didn't really shrink as long as she got 10 calls a day from her parents.

Later, she told herself every time she rejected another call.

Emma also had a bad conscience for leaving Henry on his own or with Ruby and Granny that much, but he seemed to be fine with it and was looking forward to the next time he would be allowed to visit his mom.

At least the magic lessons, which they had started again, since Regina was feeling better, went well. As Regina had said, once she knew the principle it was only a matter of practice and already Emma found herself able to move things through and around the room.

They had just finished with another lesson and Emma slowly got really good at moving and lifting up objects, in whatever size.

"So when will we get to the next level?", she asked after setting down the books she had magically lifted up.

"Tomorrow, I think.", the former queen answered, "You seem to have no problem with accessing and using your magic anymore. You don't get tired, though you're practicing regularly and that is the most important point."

She paused for a moment and studied the blonde who was sitting next to her, smiling broadly in the face of her new abilities.

"Do you feel ready to take the next step?"

Emma turned to face her and nodded excessively.

"Absolutely. Whatever it takes to get you out of here as soon as possible."

Regina felt a warmth in her chest at these words, which had become quite the regular phenomenon when Emma talked to her, but she couldn't help the nagging thoughts at the break of her mind.

"I appreciate your will to help, but do YOU feel ready? Do you feel comfortable with doing magic?"

This time the sheriff took longer to answer and internally Regina sighed. She expected the answer to be no and tried to not be too disappointed about that, because it would mean, that maybe the blonde would never be able to break the spell that kept her here.

"I am."

"What?" Lost in her own thoughts Regina actually missed Emma's answer.

"I do feel ready. I… I like using magic. It's nice, I mean it feels nice. It feels like the most normal thing in the world to be able to move those things around and it still kind of amazes me that it's really possible and that I am the one to be able to do that. So yes, I want to take the next step."

Emma could see the relief on the former mayor's face at her answer and was happy to see that her progress actually gave the brunette some hope to escape her prison.

"What will the next step be?"

Somehow she was hoping for something that brought her closer to breaking the spell or at least something cool like conjuring fireballs, but she had the vague feeling that Regina would go for something more essential first.

She wasn't disappointed when the brunette answered:

"Retrieving things you need."

Though it was what she had expected, Emma couldn't help the slightest feeling of disappointment.

"Like what? 'I'm hungry, I want some pancakes.'"

"Like that."

Emma's mouth fell open.

"Seriously?"

"Assuming that you have a plate of pancakes ready at home?"

"Eh?"

Regina couldn't help but laugh at Emma's facial expressions during the last thirty seconds. The thought of being able to conjure any food she'd want had the blonde's eyes widen in excitement and her mouth fall open. Now her expression was something like the plea "Please don't tell me you only joked."

When she was finally able to talk again she explained the whole thing to get the sheriff out of her confusion.

"Making things appear in front of you only works when you know where the thing you want is. So in order to get yourself some pancakes, you would have to make them first. Then you can retrieve them from wherever you are."

"Ahh. Got it. So no unlimited access to all kinds of food?"

"No, I'll have to disappoint you."

"Hmm."

The excitement fell from the blonde's face and Regina watched her eyes becoming distant.

"Are you okay?", she carefully asked, and found herself reaching out for the other woman. She quickly took her hand back and buried it in her lap, but continued to look at Emma.

"Yeah. I am. I was just thinking." She paused, but by now Regina knew Emma well enough to know that the blonde would continue speaking any minute. And she was right. With a sigh the sheriff turned to fully face her and continued:

"You know, I'm not the best cook, and I'm usually okay with that. Like, I survived the last 30 years without being able to cook. But now with Henry… I have a bad conscience, like the whole time. I'm already rarely home and he spends way too much time with Ruby and Granny or on his own and then when I'm home, I can't even feed him right and we will end up eating stuff from the diner, where he already spends all his days. And then there's the house. How did you keep that clean? It's huge! I just… suck at all this "single-mom" stuff."

A huge sigh escaped the blonde as she leaned back against the couch and let her eyes fall close for a second.

Regina only stared at the sheriff. Behind all of the bitterness about being stuck in this cabin she almost forgot about the fact that Emma now was taking care of Henry on her own. Of course, she didn't forget about Henry, not a day would go by without her thinking about if he was alright, but she somehow never connected the dots to Emma. Especially since the blonde was with her so much.

It was only now that she realized that Emma was basically managing two lives at the same time and she felt guilty for not having that realization earlier and helping her.

"I'm sure you're doing great.", she said and this time she didn't keep herself from reaching out to the other woman and laid a hand on the sheriff's shoulder.

"You are?" Emma's question sounded more than a little disbelieving.

"Yes, I am. I've seen how you've taken care of me these last days while I was sick, even though you didn't have to. I can only imagine how good care you will take of someone who really means something to you."

Emma only stared at Regina in disbelief, yet she felt hugely comforted by the brunette's words.

"Thank you, Regina.", she answered quietly, since she didn't really know how to react to this unusual encouragement. But something was bothering her with Regina's answer and when she went through the other woman's words again it hit her.

"Wait, do you think you don't mean anything to me?"

"What?"

Now Regina was looking at her in confusion, but Emma only sat up straight to better look at the former queen.

"You said that you could only imagine how I would take care of some who _really means something to me_."

"Well, yes, I thought Henry would…"

"Of course, I love Henry and he does mean a lot to me, but I do care about you, too, Regina. I thought you'd have realized that by now."

Regina couldn't believe her ears. She tried to keep her body from reacting to the words she just heard, because certainly she just heard wrong, but in the end she couldn't keep the joy from flooding her. It had been a very long time since someone told her he'd care about her and Regina actually had to blink away some tears.

"Thank you.", she voiced, trying not to show how emotional she was.

Emma smiled at the former mayor's reaction. She could tell that she didn't want her to see how much it affected her, but Emma did anyway. To not make Regina uncomfortable, she just took the former queen's hand that had fallen from her own shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeezed before she changed the topic.

"Want me to bring over Henry tomorrow?"

…

"So will you finally show me what you've learned?" Henry was bouncing around on the passenger seat while they were driving out to Toll Bridge.  
"Yes."

"Aww, great! I'm so excited! How's mom doing? Is she feeling better again?"

"Yes she is, but how about you just ask her these questions yourself."

Emma shut off the engine when they were parked at the bridge and looked at Henry who nodded and immediately jumped out the car to run towards the cabin.

Emma followed him with a laugh.

She announced them to Regina with a knock and then opened the door to find the brunette already waiting at the spell's border.

"Henry!"

"Mom!"

Both took a step closer to each other, before Regina reminded him to be careful.

He snorted, but nodded and stayed where he was, while Emma passed the doorframe to once again gather some of the couch cushions and also a few blankets, because by now winter had finally fallen and it was noticeably cold outside.

For the next 20 minutes mother and son caught up on all the things they'd missed from each other's lives over the past three weeks and Emma just sat there in silence, gazing between the both of them and feeling as happy and relaxed as she hadn't in a long time.

Her thoughts were interrupted, though, when her phone rang in her pocket. Taking it out and glancing at the display she almost immediately hit the "reject" button again, when Henry innocently asked:

"Who is it?"

"Your grandmother.", Emma replied shortly and caught a short questioning gaze from Regina.

Henry's expression though was what had her pause from actually rejecting the call and she could sense which thought ran through her sons head right now.

Sighing she held out the phone to him.

"Would you like to talk to her?"  
He hesitated, though he clearly wanted to take the call.

"Would that really be okay? I mean, aren't you still angry with her?"

"How I feel about her right now doesn't mean, you're not allowed to talk to her anymore.", Emma finally answered, closing her eyes for a moment. She could feel Regina shortly patting her shoulder and knew that she had just climbed another stair in parenting.

As soon as she had finished her sentence Henry had accepted the call and was now talking to Snow, while pacing up and down in front of the cabin's porch.

"So you haven't talked to you mother, yet?", Regina asked while Henry was distracted.

"No. Not to David, either, though they were definitely not lazy in still trying to."

"I see."

They both followed Henry's movement for a few moments while he was telling Snow about what he did in the last weeks.

"You know, it would be easier for you, if you made up with your parents, for Henry I mean. They could take him while you're here."

Emma spun around to look at the former queen.

"Did you really just suggest that?", she asked disbelievingly, but Regina just shrugged.

"You told me just yesterday how hard it is on you to be a single mother, but you don't actually have to handle it on your own. You do still have your parents."

"I can't believe that this suggestion is actually coming from you, Regina.", Emma sighed and gave the other woman a small smile, "I thought you would be the one most delighted over the fact that I still don't talk to the people who decided about your imprisonment."

"I was, but, well, times have changed."

Emma watched Regina closely and remembered their talk from the day before. Yes times definitely changed.

"She wants to talk to you.", Henry interrupted their conversation and held out the phone to Emma.

Regina could see the blonde struggling whether she should take the call or not.

Of course she somehow liked that Emma still punished Snow with silence over her insane decision to lock her up, but she also saw how hard the situation was on Emma and making up with her parents would take a lot of pressure from the sheriff.

So when Emma finally leaned through the spell's boundary and took the phone from Henry, Regina found herself a little relieved.

"Okay, listen. I will talk to you and David, but I won't have this conversation over the phone. I'll meet you for dinner, today, okay? Great. See you."

Emma let her arm sink to her side and stared at her phone for a moment as if she couldn't believe what she had just agreed to and Regina felt sorry for the blonde's struggle.

But it was Henry who broke the uncomfortable silence that was about to settle when he asked:

"Does that mean I will be able to stay with David again and learn how to ride a horse?"

Looking at her son, Emma couldn't help a smile upon his excitement.

"I guess that's exactly what it means."

"Thank you! Really, this day couldn't get any better!"

The joy in their son's face and the stories he told them, let both women forget about all their problems for a few moments.

They just felt comfortable being together as if they were their own small family.

…

Over all the joy of spending time with Henry, in the end both Emma and Regina forgot about their magic lesson and it was only when Henry asked to see what Emma had learned that they remembered.

Since it was already getting late afternoon and it got cooler outside by the minute they decided to only let Henry see a few things before Emma and Henry left to get back to the mansion.

Another hour later, Emma was getting ready for the dinner with her parents. She was just putting on her jacket when Henry came round the corner from the living room.

"You sure you'll be okay?", she asked him, as if he would provide her with a reason to skip this dinner, but of course he wouldn't.

"Yeah. It's not the first time, I'm on my own for a night.", he answered and even if he certainly didn't intend to, a sting of bad conscience hit her.

"I try to be back soon."

"You don't have to hurry, better take your time to make up with Grandma & Grandpa."  
Great, she thought, why was Henry so wise at times?

"I will try."

Looking around the room there was nothing else she could take as an excuse to further post pone her leaving, so she finally took a deep breath and leaned down to give Henry a quick kiss on the cheek.

"See you later then, kid."

"Yep."

He was already back in the living room, when Emma opened the front door.

She was strangely nervous about this evening and didn't feel comfortable at all as she entered Granny's, spotted her parents and slid into the booth to sit opposite to them.

"Hey.", was all she managed to say, partly because of her nervousness, partly because she still didn't really want to have this conversation and certainly didn't intend to be the one to initiate it.

"Emma. We're so glad you came. ", Snow was smiling widely.

"You didn't answer any of our calls and we hardly saw you around town, we started to worry.", David added.

"Yeah well, did you consider that I just didn't wanna see or talk to you? Might have also been the reason I've moved out." Emma couldn't help the irony and bitterness but she felt like her parents were the ones who had to apologize.

Now they both stayed quiet, seemingly not knowing what to reply to this.

In the end it was Snow who started the conversation again.

"Do you live in the mansion now?"

"Yes."

Once again silence. Emma knew that she didn't make this any easier but she didn't want to either. She wanted her parents to apologize, wanted her mother to realize that she went way out of line, that she made a huge mistake and most importantly she wanted both of her parents to understand that this town was no enchanted forest and that there was no such thing as kings and queens here. It was the American law that applied to this town and it was the sheriff's function to decide about right and wrong.

She didn't voice any of this though. The stubborn child inside her didn't allow her to take the initiative to a conversation when she was the one feeling wronged. And also, she knew deep inside, she was afraid of starting to cry once she would start, because under all that anger Emma still felt disappointed and betrayed by the one people she thought would not only love, but more importantly, also understand and support her.

After a few more long moments of silence Snow sighed and finally asked:

"What are you son angry about, Emma? Why didn't you talk to us in three weeks, or let Henry?"

Emma's head shot up and she stared at her parents in disbelief. Seriously? _What are you so angry about?_ , Emma couldn't believe what she had just heard. Alternating between staring at her mother and father, she tried to decide whether to scream or simply stand up and leave. But her mother wasn't finished yet.

"I know you have been upset about our decision about Regina, but that can't be all, right? I mean, it worked, Regina's no longer a problem and now you can even raise Henry on your own."

The level of lunacy in her mother's words made Emma swallow heavily and take a few deep breaths, before she even felt able to say anything at all. Her whole body ached for shouting at her parents and introducing them to a few very unpleasant swear words she picked up in years of being a bounty hunter. But instead she forced herself to keep calm and was surprised about the level of self-control she could master.

"That actually **is** the only reason I'm angry. Well. If you leave aside the facts that you completely ignored the laws of this country and the moral concept of humanity. You also went over my head as sheriff, didn't have the idea that I, as your daughter, could have an opinion on the topic and did not even remotely think about what consequences your absolutely insane decision would have for Henry!"

In the end Emma was shouting anyways, because all of her latest practice in patience that came with the magic lessons aside, Emma would never have **that** much of self-control.

"You were wondering where I have been these past weeks and why you haven't seen me around town? Because I was out in the woods! In the cabin that you decided to make Regina's prison! I made sure that she wouldn't just die out there without anyone even noticing!"

Emma could see the surprise in her parent's expressions but she wasn't finished and wouldn't stop before she was.

"You keep repeating that Regina's the _Evil Queen_ , the one person all the realms have to be afraid of, the dark sorceress that longs for nothing else than destroying everyone's lives. You know what? You destroyed hers! You killed her mother and then decided to put her inside this spell that would lock her away from the world forever, because you knew that she couldn't break it herself with the bracelet on. You always say that she's the bad one, but **you** have been the one that lived up to this word! "

Breathing heavily and even feeling a little dizzy from all the screaming, she watched her parent's again, not caring the least that every remaining guest in the diner was staring at her.

"Emma.", was all Snow said, before falling silent again.

David helped her out.

"Emma, I'm sure your mother didn't mean to ignore your position when she…"

"Shhh!", Snow interrupted him and turned to directly face her daughter.

"I am sorry.", she said.

Though Emma could still feel the anger rushing through her veins, something in her mother's face made her pause. There was something there, something next to the apology, that Emma believed to be honest, that she couldn't really get a hold on, but Snow seemed to finally realize the depth of her actions.

Emma kept looking at her mother and didn't mind it when Snow took her hands, which she had been kneading furiously.

"I am honestly sorry, Emma.", Snow repeated, before continuing, "You are right with what you said. I didn't think about the consequences. I did go over your head and I am very sorry for that. I love you and I never wanted to hurt you, but I realize I have when I didn't talk to you first. I guess I still have to learn a lot about being a good mother."

She gave Emma a small smile and shrugged her shoulders and Emma could feel tears starting to well up and swallowed heavily.

"But you know, Emma, Regina and I have a long history with each other and most of it isn't really pleasant. That is my fault as much as hers, I know that now, but sometimes we both just overreact and forget about everything other than taking revenge. And I guess that's what I did when I called the Blue Fairy to take Regina.

You're right when you say that I keep repeating how evil Regina is when I don't act any different. You are right, Emma, and I'm sorry for what I did, I deeply am."

This time Emma couldn't keep the tears from falling and she felt so very stupid for starting to cry. It was just that this was the very first time that someone actually apologized to her, really honestly apologized. And from the look on Snow's face Emma could definitely tell that her mother was being honest with her this time.

The feeling of being loved and important to someone, that her mother's apology brought up in Emma was just so overwhelming that she couldn't help the tears.

When gentle fingers brushed over her moist cheeks she looked up again and a sob escaped her, while she tried herself at a smile.

Both of her parents were smiling back at her and for the first time she felt, really felt, that she was loved; that she had parents who loved her and who wanted her to be part of their family.

"Thank you.", Emma finally whispered, "for… apologizing."

She tried to stop crying and regain some composure as she brushed away the tears from her cheeks.

"And if you want to you can be head of the town.", Snow said, "I mean, as you said, you're the sheriff and since we… don't have a mayor right now…"

Though Emma was still struggling to regain composure the emotion that crossed her mother's face at her last words didn't go unnoticed by Emma. It was the same emotion that she had seen when Snow first apologized, but Emma still couldn't name it and it was gone before she could further think about it.

Instead she thought about her mother's offer.

"I can't.", she finally replied, "I mean, I'm glad, that you offered and I hope you understand by now, that you two can't reign this town like you did with your kingdom, but right now I don't have the time to think about the town's business. So if you wouldn't mind to do that for just a little longer?"

"Of course we will.", David immediately answered and gave her a fatherly smile.

"But if it's because of Henry, you know, we love to take him every now and then.", Snow added.

"It's not just Henry. It's Regina, too. I spent most of my time in the cabin with her."

There was another moment of silence, before Snow voiced the question that Emma had already seen on her face.

"May I ask what you are doing out there with her?"

Emma hesitated. Should she tell her parents that they worked on breaking the spell? They had just overcome their last argument and she was pretty sure that her learning magic to free Regina would be the perfect reason to start the next one.

But on the other hand she didn't want to have any secrets from her parents, at least not right now, when she just felt like she really got the family she always longed for. So in the end she carefully gave her answer.

"Regina is teaching me magic."

The shock on her parent's face was unable to miss so Emma hurried to continue:

"You know, since I'm true love's child and everything, I obviously have it and that's also why I am able to cross the spell's boundaries. She's just teaching me how to control it, basic things, you know."  
With a flick of her wrist, she lifted one of the menu cards from the counter and let it sink down on the table in front of her parents.

Both of them were staring at the card for some long moments before Snow took the initiative and voiced her thoughts.

"I… I honestly don't know if that's a good idea, but", she reached out to once again take Emma's hands into her own, "I do trust you, that you know what you do. I'm not in the position to tell you what is right or wrong anymore."

Emma nodded, relieved that they didn't slid right into the next argument.

"You know", she carefully replied, "we hope that one day I might be able to break the spell."

Emma could hear David inhale sharply and see Snow stiffen in her seat, but neither of them said anything right away.

"I guess.", Snow finally said, "that's only legit for you to try and I…" she paused, "I hope you will succeed."

David gave his wife a surprised look but Snow only focused on Emma.

"It was a huge mistake to imprison Regina, but since I can't do anything about it now, I hope that maybe you will be able to. You are our savior, after all."

Though Emma hated the s-word, she knew that her mother meant it well and gave her an honest smile.

"Thank you."

Feeling exhausted from the heavy conversation but also kind of pumped from all the adrenaline that had accompanied it, she uttered:

"Actually, I'm not hungry anymore at all. Do you mind if I just head home?"

"No, of course not.", David was fast to answer.

"Will you… will you keep living in the mansion?"  
Emma nodded.

"I'm sorry, but I really think that keeping some distance will be the best for all of us."

"Maybe."

After saying goodbye to her parents, Emma left the diner and breathed in the clear night air. Looking down the street to where the mansion was, she felt unable to just head back there and go to sleep right now. A look on the clock told her that it was just a little after 9pm. Henry would probably already have passed out on the couch. He might grow older, but his day was not only exciting but also exhausting and he already had a huge need for sleep without that.

After weighing her options for a moment Emma decided to give into the need to talk to Regina that she felt since the moment her mother had apologized to her.

The older woman might laugh at her, when she told her that she had only come over to tell her about her conciliation with her parents, but Emma didn't care too much about that.

She headed for her car and drove the all too familiar road out to toll bridge. The way to the cabin from there was a little tricky in the dark, especially since it had been raining earlier and the ground was soaked.

A fireball to lighten her way would have been really cool now, Emma thought, or at least some other magical flashlight. Maybe she could get Regina to teach her something like that.

When she reached the cabin, she was relieved to still see light burning inside. She hadn't really thought that Regina would have already gone to bed, but she was still relieved to be sure that she didn't interrupt.

She announced herself with a short knock on the door and then let herself in.

"Emma?"

Regina had been sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, and reading _Wuthering Heights,_ when she heard the knock on the door and the sheriff entered the room.

Looking at her, Regina pulled her legs under herself to make space on the couch and Emma got the invitation and sat down next to her.

"Is everything okay?", Regina asked, getting the impression that there was something important on the blonde's mind that would have lead her here that late.

"I think so.", Emma answered, which didn't really give away much.

"Did you talk to you parents?"

"Yes. They… Snow, she apologized."

Emma turned to look at Regina and realized that the brunette probably wouldn't be as happy about that apology as she herself was, because after all, that apology didn't change anything for the former mayor.

But when she faced the brunette, she couldn't see any sign of frustration or anger.

Instead Regina put down her book and leaned a little closer.

"That's a good thing, right?", she asked and Emma only nodded.

"Then why do you look like there's something still bothering you?"

Emma was surprised that the brunette had seen through her so easily, but they had spent so much time with each other lately, that it shouldn't really be surprising her anymore.

"I don't know", she answered honestly, "I mean, I'm happy that she realized she made a mistake and I know that she was being honest. I even understand her motives, kind of, but I can't really let go of all the anger. I mean, you're still in here."

She made a vague gesture around the room to underline her statement.

Regina was touched that the blonde was so concerned with her and it made her heart beat just a little bit faster, but she didn't want the other woman to burden herself with things that she didn't need to worry about.

"But you made up with your mother, that's the most important thing. Sure, I'm still in here, and **I** still believe that Snow's not really too sad about that, but if you forgave her then that's what should matter to you. I will be fine. And also, you're trying to help me get out, so you really don't have to feel guilty, Emma."

When the blonde looked up and they locked gazes, for a moment Regina felt like she could drown in the other woman's emerald eyes. She could see so many emotions rumoring behind these beautiful eyes that she was literally unable to look away.

When they finally broke the eye contact both women were silent for a moment and Regina felt like she needed to look anywhere but at the sheriff.

In the end, though, she didn't want their conversation to end awkwardly and make Emma leave, so when she caught the book she had left lying at the coffee table, she asked:

"Did you ever finish _The Wizard of Oz_?"

"What?"

Still caught up in the emotions the moment, when she looked into Regina's eyes, had brought up, she was startled by the brunette's question.

"Did you finish _The Wizard of Oz_? You were reading it when I was sick."

"Oh, right. No, I didn't. You had these nightmares and then later again and I fell asleep in your bed and then I had things to do in town and then you were already doing better."  
At the mention of the nightmares Emma could see Regina wincing and immediately felt sorry for bringing up the topic. She already knew that it was nothing the brunette wished to talk about, so she quickly followed with: "Sorry."

"No, it's okay.", Regina replied, shaking her head lightly to get rid of the images her mind immediately conjured.

She could feel the blonde's doubting gaze on her and was confirmed when Emma spoke again.

"No, it's not. I didn't want to bring something up that you're uncomfortable with, I didn't think that through."

Regina sighed at Emma's determination to apologize and felt flattered that she actually cared so much about how she was feeling.

"You know, it's not that I don't want to talk about it. It's more that I can't.", she admitted quietly, swallowing heavily when the pictures returned to her inner eye. She was cursing herself that she had even let it get this far, but _some_ part of her _wanted_ to talk about it; wanted to make the demons less scaring by sharing them with someone. But simultaneously she was scared to death to tell someone about her horrors, because for the moment they would be overwhelmingly real and she wasn't sure if she could handle that.

She startled when she felt warm hands close around her own and looked up to once again meet emerald eyes.

"You really don't have to, Regina.", Emma assured, being amazed but also terrified at how fragile Regina seemed to have become within only a few seconds.

Squeezing the brunette's hands slightly, she waited for Regina to speak again.

Before she did, she took a deep breath, but her voice still sounded so very small that Emma wanted to just hug the other woman and make all her fears disappear.

She didn't though, because that would probably end with the exact opposite reaction and get her a slap in the face, but she kept watching Regina closely.

"I'm afraid.", Regina admitted and didn't even remotely know when she had made the decision to trust Emma with her biggest and darkest secrets. But now that she had, the words came easier to her and the fact that Emma was still holding her hands kept her somewhat grounded.

"I'm afraid what will happen if I tell you what the nightmares are about, because that just makes them so real.", she voiced her fears and waited for Emma's reaction, desperately hoping that the blonde wouldn't reject her.

And she didn't. Emma only nodded and Regina could see an understanding in those emerald eyes that once again told her that Emma Swan had a lot of her very own demons to fight.

Taking a deep breath, that was more shuddering than she realized she continued to talk:

"I dream about my mother, well lately at least."

She could feel Emma stiffen for a moment, but continued nonetheless.

"It wasn't actually that bad for the last years, but since… her death it's all coming back again. You got to know her, you saw what she was like, so our relationship was always… complicated. Even before she killed…"

Even after all those years she had to stop and almost choked at a sob, before she was able to continue.

"before she killed Daniel.", she finally finished her sentence and blinked away some tears.

"So I dream about that, about what she would do to me when I was a child and didn't follow her orders."

Emma had been listening silently, watching the brunette struggle with the emotions that talking about her past conjured, while her own heart was clenching at the thought of what Cora Mills would have done to a young Regina.

Remembering a few situations from different foster homes, Emma swallowed heavily and squeezed the brunette's hand to offer some comfort, but also to comfort herself.

"What… what would she do?", she asked carefully and could feel Regina stiffen immediately, so she started tracing circles over the back of the brunette's hands.

Emma could basically see Regina pushing through the images of days long ago, before she was able to answer.

"She wasn't very particular about how she punished me. It mostly depended on which mood she was in. Sometimes she would just lock me up in my room for a few days without anyone to talk to. Then there were days when she would magically restrain me in every possible way until she had explained in detail what I did wrong and how and what a disappointment I was. And then sometimes she…" Regina paused and Emma knew that the worst part, if you could even make out a worst with all these terrible things, was still to come.

"Sometimes she would play with the air around me, make me unable to breathe, until I confessed my mistake and apologized."

For a moment Emma was unable to speak, while thinking about these unspeakable things done to a little girl. She was just about to come up with an answer, when Regina already spoke again.

"So that's what I dream about. I see her coming closer and it's like I feel the pain physically."

Finishing, Regina took a few deep breaths and tried to swallow away the tears that were just about to fall, without much success.

She could see the disgust on Emma's face that obtained her mother, but also the deep understanding. She was relieved to not receive pity from the blonde, because that was the last thing she could handle right now, but Emma probably knew all too well what she had been through, to know that.

So when Emma finally said:

"I know that it's not the least bit helpful, but never keep fighting the nightmares. One day they won't be able to hurt you anymore."

Regina wasn't able to hold back her tears anymore. She could feel them rolling down her cheeks, but made no effort to brush them away.

Instead she locked eyes with Emma again. A question on her lips that she could hold back as little as she could the tears.

"Did you? Defeat the nightmares?"

"Mostly, but not completely, no."

She could see the sadness in these emerald orbs and knew that Emma was telling the truth. She might seem brave and self-confident most of the time, but right now her eyes told Regina, that deep down she still had to fight with her own past and the feelings of worthlessness and abandonment.

Still, the blond kept rubbing her hands and gave her a little smile and Regina felt oddly comforted.

When she finally disengaged one of her hands from the blonde's to brush away the tears from her cheeks, she felt like a huge burden had been lifted from her chest and she could now breathe lighter.

They both leaned back against the couch and when they once again locked eyes both women knew that they could trust the other one to not lose a word about the night to anyone.

…

Continuous pins and needles in her arm were what woke Emma. Still half asleep, she tried to shift her weight so that she could stretch out her arm but instead bumped her hand against something hard. In the next moment a loud thud finally snatched her from sleep. Opening her eyes she was confused to see wooden walls instead of the white wallpaper of Regina's guest bedroom.

Regina- she then remembered and sat up to see the brunette curled up, one arm hanging off the couch where they had both fallen asleep last night.

The loud thud, though, which Emma now noticed had come from her tripping off Regina's book from the couchtable, had woken the other woman as well.

Emma smiled at the former mayor and mumbled a short "Good Morning", before rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Good Morning.", Regina replied, sitting up as well.

Emma couldn't help but admire how beautiful the brunette was, even ,or maybe especially, when only just awoken, with tangled hair and marks of the pillow on her cheek. It had something very comfortable about waking up with the former mayor, Emma found and stretched her arm again to finally get rid of the annoying prickling.

"I guess we must have fallen asleep yesterday?", Regina stated, looking around the cabin, her gaze finally stopping by the clock on the kitchen wall.

"Wait, Emma, did you tell Henry you would stay here the night? Because it's almost 10:30 and even though it's the weekend I doubt he'll sleep in that long."

"What?!", Emma cried out, shooting around to follow Regina's gaze, before jumping up and frantically putting on her jacket whilst repeating: "Damn it, Damn it, Damn it."

Regina couldn't help but grin at the scene in front of her eyes.

"I take it you didn't tell him? Don't worry too much, I'm sure he will be fine, bring something for breakfast and he probably won't even care that you haven't been there when he got up."

"Thanks for the advice.", Emma replied, before opening the door.

"I will be back later, for our lesson, okay?"

"Okay. See you later, then."

"See you later.", Emma repeated and smiled at Regina a last time before she stepped outside and all the nice feelings because of the cozy awakening with Regina were gone when the cold hit her.

"Damn!", she cursed once again and hurried back to the bridge to get into her car and turn up the heat to the fullest.

Sadly the bug's heater took a very long time and when she finally noticed the first bust of slightly warm air coming from the ventilation she already pulled into the mansion's driveway.

She had followed Regina's advice and picked up some bear claws and croissants from Granny's.

"Henry?", she called when she entered the house and stripped off her shoes in the foyer.

"Living room.", he answered and Emma made her way there, taking off her jacket.

When she entered the room she could see that Henry had used the opportunity of being home alone and was playing one of his videogames already.

"Hey.", she said while dropping down next to him.

"Hey.", he answered, pausing the game to look at her.

He was still in his pajamas and Emma doubted he had eaten something, yet.

"Where have you been this early? I didn't hear you leave.", he asked.

"I picked up breakfast." Emma waved the take-away bag she still held.

"Oh great!"

Before she had even noticed it, he had grasped it from her and opened it, a huge smile on his face. Emma smiled at his enthusiasm over something as simple as a breakfast from Granny's.

"But no eating on the couch.", she reminded him, when he was about to reach into the bag.

"Yeah, yeah.", he mumbled and got up to move to the kitchen.

Emma followed him, taking a turn through the foyer to hang her jacket on the coatrack.

When she entered the kitchen he had already taken out two plates and set them on the table and was now standing in front of the fridge, figuring out which jam to eat with his croissant.

Emma started the water boiler and poured a few spoons of coffee into the French press before sitting down next to her son, who had finally gone with the classic strawberry jam.

Watching him happily chew on his croissant she sighed as she reached for the take out bag and pulled out one of the bearclaws.

"I actually didn't sleep here tonight, Henry."

He was looking at her with big eyes full of curiosity but he seemed to be too polite to actually ask where she had spent her night and it was only then that it hit her what kind of conclusion a 12 year old at the brink of puberty would probably draw.

"I mean I wasn't, you know… I just visited you mom yesterday after I talked with your grandparents and it was getting late and we fell asleep on the couch."

"Ah.", he nodded in understanding and continued eating.

Relieved Emma took a bite of her bearclaw as well.

"How did it go with Snow and David?", he asked when he got up to get himself something to drink.

"Good.", Emma answered and actually felt happy saying that. "We talked about our issues and they apologized and yeah, I guess it went pretty great, actually."

"That's nice. So can I stay with them today? I really want to learn how to swordfight!"

"Of course you can, kid." Emma answered, laughing, before she got up to pour the by now boiling water over the coffee powder.

"I actually wanted to ask you to stay with them anyway, because I'll be practicing some more magic with your mom later."

"Great, then. But until it is "later", will you play some videogames with me? It's always more fun if you don't have to play against the computer."

"I will, but let me shower first, okay?"

"Yep. I'm finished, can I at least take the orange juice to the living room.", he asked, pushing away his empty plate and getting up from the chair.

Emma looked at the glass in her son's hands and already imagined the stains on Regina's beige couch but eventually nodded.

Three hours later Emma had dropped Henry off at her parent's and drove back out to the cabin.

When she entered, Regina once again sat on the couch and read.

"Hey, again.", Emma smiled, while she closed the door behind herself.

"Hey.", Regina answered and put down her book.

"So how did it go with Henry?", she asked while the blonde sat down next to her.

"Fine. He really didn't care much where I was, after he saw that I brought breakfast."

"Told you.", Regina replied and they both laughed.

"I told him anyway, but he's happy to be able to practice swordfighting with David again, so he doesn't mind that we're practicing magic now."

"Swordfighting?!" Regina could hear her own voice pitch to a higher octave, but she just couldn't take the image of her little prince being hurt because an idiot like Charming thought it would be a good idea to give a sword into the hands of a child.

"Don't worry. They only have these wooden toy-swords. I made David swear not to let Henry get close to his real one.", Emma appeased.

Regina still wasn't convinced but she was in no position to change the situation, so the only thing she could do was to sigh and trust the blonde's judgment.

"So what are we going to do, today?", the sheriff asked and finally pulled her from her thoughts. She shook her head to get all her worries and the nagging pain of missing Henry off her mind for now and turned to look at the blonde.

"We already talked about retrieving objects. So that's what we're going to start on today."

"Right, the pancakes thing."

"Exactly. I suppose you didn't make pancakes which you could now retrieve from the mansion?"

"Nope."

"I thought so. But we still need something to try with. Have any idea?"

She watched Emma thinking for a moment before a smile lit up the blonde's face.

"There's still a bearclaw left from breakfast. It's on the counter next to the fridge."

"Alright then."

Regina couldn't help the smile on the sheriff's enthusiasm about food.

"The concept is very similar to the one you already know. So focus your magic and remember to work with the web around you, not against it. Because you don't see the object you want to move now, you don't have to direct your magic to your fingertips, but reach out with it. Magic doesn't really have a limited range, so visualize what you want to retrieve and from where and just send out your magic.", the brunette explained.

Emma nodded, the concept made sense.

She did as she was instructed and felt the rush of adrenaline that always came up with the tingling of her focusing magic. Emma could understand why Regina and Rumplestiltskin and Cora were so addicted to it and saw the solution to every problem in its usage. The feeling was just empowering.

Emma tried to put away these thoughts and focus on what Regina had told her. Visualize. Reach out.

She did- and within a second the brown take out back with the bear claw appeared on the table in front of her.

"Wow, that was… unexpected?"

She looked at Regina to get an explanation but the former queen just looked as surprised as she was herself.

"Well. I guess you don't have a problem with that.", Regina finally stated.

Retrieving things from places further away wasn't really the most difficult thing, but she still didn't expect Emma to accomplish it that fast.

"Try again.", she demanded, curious whether it was just luck or if the blonde really had no problem with that kind of task.

She watched Emma thinking about what she should bring next and then saw the quickly focusing blue magic in her chest before a chocolate bar appeared on the table.

Turning to her, Regina could see the wide smile on the blonde's face.

"That's incredibly easy."

"It seems it is.", Regina answered, still surprised at the sheriff's abilities.

"Okay, one final try, if you manage it, we'll skip that lesson and move to the next. Oh and bring something bigger this time."

Emma nodded and while Regina watched her a slight spark of hope started to grow in her chest. If Emma's magical abilities really grew that fast there might actually be a notable chance of leaving this cabin. It would not only be a faint hope, but an actual possibility!

She was distracted when she sensed another shift in magic.

On the table in front of Emma stood

"My orchid?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"I've seen it in your bedroom when I first brought you clothes and watered it ever since. I thought you might want to have some flowers over here."

That was actually the truth. Emma had huge problems with keeping up with the cleaning in the mansion, but she never forgot about the orchid on Regina's window sill. She had figured that it would give the former mayor at least some sense of home if she brought it.

The brunette reached out for the plant and gently touched its blossoms.

"Thank you.", she finally whispered and Emma let out a relieved breath that her gesture was received well.

"That's… very thoughtful of you."

"You're welcome.", she replied.

Blinking away a few tears that suddenly welled up, Regina quickly stood up, taking the plant into her hands.

"I'm just going to put it in the bedroom", she quickly explained to Emma and hurried over to the other room to take a moment to compose herself.

It was stupid to cry over a flower, but seeing the orchid had suddenly made her realize all over again, what it was she lost because of this spell that was holding her here.

Setting the plant down on the bedside table, Regina took a deep breath, before re-entering the living room.

Emma was still sitting on the couch, but was now chewing on a bite of the bearclaw she had just magically brought here. The sight made Regina smile and forget about the dark thoughts again, it just looked… cute, how completely happy and content Emma seemed by just sitting there and eating her pastry.

Emma just finished the last bite of the bearclaw, when Regina settled down next to her again.

"Okay, I've thought about it, and I think since this retrieving thing worked pretty well and also the other basic stuff. Maybe we could start with some… offensive magic?"

She watched the brunette's reaction closely. Emma was pretty sure that was not next on Regina's teaching plan, but she wanted to start on actually learning something that would help breaking the spell. The former mayor's emotional reaction to the sight of the orchid didn't go unnoticed by Emma and it confirmed her in her believe that the whole situation was effecting the other woman much more than she would show, or maybe even realize for herself.

Now, though, the brunette kept quiet and after a couple of minutes passed, Emma started wondering if she had actually heard her, but before she could ask again Regina spoke.

"That's not how you usually learn.", she replied.

Teaching the sheriff offensive magic that early made Regina more than a little uncomfortable. Not even Rumplestiltskin had done that when he taught her, aside from the heartcrushing that should ensure her determination.

After the basics usually came defenses: blocking and deflecting magic, putting up shields, protecting yourself.

This situation, though, was unique and the small spark of hope she had felt earlier when she saw how easy magic came to the blonde already got a voice and was arguing that it would bring her so much closer to getting out of the cabin.

Shaking her head, to clear her thoughts, Regina sighed deeply.

"Okay. **But** we start with something simple. Fireballs."

When she saw Emma's facing lighting up at her words she couldn't help a smile. Her enthusiasm was infectious and it was definitely stronger than the doubts she still held a minute before.

"Great!" Emma blurted out, "So what do I do?"

"First you hold your hand as far away from your body as possible.", Regina instructed.

Emma gave her a look of utter confusion and the brunette started laughing.

"It's fire after all, Emma. And fire burns things."

"But you never burned yourself with it."

"I have a little more practice than you do."

"Fine.", she finally sighed and held out her outstretched arm, palm up.

"It's basically the same as all the other things you learned. Focus your magic in your hand and push it outwards, work with the web, not against it and then think of what it is you want to conjure. Fire, in this case. But please do both of us a favor and really think of a fireball and not some forest fire or anything."

"Do you really think I could do that?" Emma asked in disbelief.

"No, I actually don't, but I'm not taking any risks." The smirk on the brunette's face made Emma laugh. Two months ago she would have felt offended by that comment, but so much had changed between them.

Now they could both laugh at the little teases.

"There's one catch in it, though." Regina continued just before Emma was about to concentrate.

"Offensive magic takes stronger emotions than the basics you learned before. Since you try to conjure something that's made to destroy, it's much easier to take from emotions like anger and hate. If you take from love, like you use to do, it will be considerably harder and will take much deeper emotions."  
"Okay."

Emma nodded. It made sense, but she was still determined to never take from those dark emotions. She would just have to concentrate more to still take from love.

Closing her eyes like she did in their very first lessons, she thought of Henry: How he showed up at her doorstep back in Boston; The time they spent together during the curse; The fear she felt when he fell under the sleeping curse and the relief that came when she kissed him and broke the curse; the small joys he brought her in their everyday life now, as hard as it sometimes might be. She thought about every positive moment she ever had with him, but as much as she could feel her magic centering, could feel the tingling and power that came with it, when she pushed it towards her palm and opened her eyes there was nothing. Not even the slightest sign of a flame or even warmth, the only thing she could see was the blue shimmer of her magic.

Turning to Regina and not being able to hide the disappointment that flooded her, she asked:  
"What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing.", Regina replied. She had watched the process closely and even though she couldn't read the sheriff's thoughts she knew that she had probably thought about Henry, like she always did.

"You didn't do anything wrong, but like I said, taking from love for offensive magic takes very deep emotions and is very hard. Just try again."

She watched as the blonde closed her eyes again and concentrated. The blue shimmer of her magic grew brighter again, but Regina still doubted it would be enough.

She wasn't even sure if it was actually possible to take from love for offensive magic, that was just what the books said. She had, of course, never done so and neither had Rumplestiltskin or her mother, so Regina had no living example that it actually worked. She just really hoped it would,

because if not, then all their lessons would have been for nothing.

Breaking the spell required offensive magic and if Emma couldn't do that by taking from love, there was no way Regina would let her spiral down the same path that she had gone and let her take from anger.

Emma's heart was not worth darkening just to get her out of this cabin!

Emma could feel Regina's gaze lying on her, but blinded it out as best as she could while concentrating on her magic.

Again she thought about Henry and all the precious moments with him, but this time she went farther. She thought about what Storybrooke meant to her; how she had found her parents; the time she spent with her mother while they were in the Enchanted Forest; the nursery her parents had built back in their castle.

She could feel her magic intensifying, the tingling sensation almost unable to bear, but she could also feel that it still wasn't quite enough, which was only confirmed when she opened her eyes and didn't see any trace of fire in her hand.

Searching her mind for more positive emotions before she wouldn't be able to uphold her magic anymore she suddenly noticed Regina changing her sitting position in the corner of her eye.

Before she had realized it the pictures from the past weeks seeped into her mind: how they started their lessons; the time she fell asleep in the brunette's bed while soothing her nightmares; all the times they had laughed together; the last night when she had seen Regina so very vulnerable but she had trusted her of all people; how comfortable she felt waking up next to her.

Suddenly she felt a rush of warmth on her palm and a flame flared up a few centimeters before it disappeared again

"I did it!"

"You did!", Regina replied, a wide smile spreading on her lips as relief but also pride flooded her. Emma had managed this task without turning to the darker emotions and the incredibly happy expression on the blonde's face made Regina's smile widen even more.

"That was really great, Emma. You managed to do offensive magic through love, that is amazing! I don't know anyone else who accomplished that."

Regina's words only busted Emma's self confidence even more. She did it, she actually managed to conjure a fire ball. Maybe it was stupid but she felt like Christmas, Easter and her birthday had just fallen on the same day.

The smile on Regina's face made her smile in return and she was so incredibly happy that she just followed her emotions and leaned forward to hug the brunette.

"Thank you Regina! And I promise that I will get you out of here."

Feeling Emma's arms close around her, Regina happily returned the hug. She could feel the sheriff's body softly pressing into hers and smell the shampoo in the blonde hair and for a moment it was as if the world had stopped turning and Regina wished nothing more than to remain in this embrace and this precious moment of content, happiness and hope forever.

That was not possible, though, and after a few moments they finally broke the contact, but continued smiling at each other.

"Let's stop here for today and continue tomorrow instead. You must be exhausted.", Regina finally said, shaking her head slightly to get rid of the still overwhelmingly present emotions their hug had brought up.

"I actually am.", the blonde admitted and Regina nodded before she got up.

"I'll make some coffee."

"Yeah. And since I now managed the first step into offensive magic, will you tell me how breaking the spell will look like? I probably won't just throw a fireball at it?"

Regina laughed, when turning back to face the blonde and replied:

"No, you won't."

…

Emma returned to the mansion later, exhausted but still high on endorphins.

After her success with the fireball they just sat together and talked and Regina had explained how breaking the spell would work.

It sounded like a lot of work and Emma knew that she still had a long way to go to get there but she was more confident now than ever that she would actually manage the task and get Regina out of the cabin.

Over the next weeks they practiced a few hours daily. Since Henry was completely content with spending most of his time with his grandparent's, Emma's guilty conscious wasn't as bad anymore and even if it was, Emma doubted she would be able to cut the time with Regina.

It just felt so natural to spend time with the brunette that sometimes she was even a tiny bit afraid of how their relationship might change once Regina actually was free.

But usually Emma pushed those thoughts far away from her, hiding them in a dark corner of her mind, so to just be able to enjoy their time together.

She was getting good at the fireballs pretty fast. The clue was to not only think about Henry, but about her whole life situation at the moment. What she hadn't been aware of when she first tried herself on the fireball was, that right now she was more happier than ever before in her life. She had a home in Storybrooke, had her parents, her son, Regina as her best friend, and yes Emma finally came to the conclusion to call her that from now on, because after all, even if it sounded strange, it was the best description of their relationship that she could possibly come up with.

Thinking about all of these people that made her feel at home in this little town was what enabled her to conjure the fireballs.

After their latest lesson they now just sat together in comfortable silence, both sipping on a cup of coffee.

Emma felt exhausted, but she came to think of it as a good kind of exhaustion, like the one after a long run. She had been throwing fireballs at the spell's invisible barrier after all. They weren't able to break through, of course, but it turned out the spell was a great thing to practice with. It would just absorb the fire and make it disappear into nothing, so Emma could concentrate on aiming right and putting the right amount of strength behind the gesture.

"Emma"

"Hmm?"

Emma had closed her eyes for a moment and now turned around to look at the brunette.

A smile curled on Regina's lips when the blonde turned to her with a slightly distant look after obviously having been lost in thoughts.

"I just wanted to tell you again, that I'm really proud of you. Your performance today was incredible when you take into account that you only just learned about having magic at all.", she said, while unconsciously twisting a strand of hair between her fingers.

"Thank you.", Emma replied and that incredible look of pride appeared on the blonde's features.

"You are much more talented with magic than I was when I started to learn." Regina admitted, which brought her a surprised glance from the blonde.

"You can't be serious."

"I actually am. It took me months to handle the fireballs right and I didn't even make the effort to take magic from love. Magic for me always came from anger, hurt and hate. You are so much braver to take from love and to actually handle offensive magic through it. I didn't think you were capable of that."

Emma remained silent, but Regina watched her reaction closely. She could see her words sinking in, that look of pride didn't really leave the blonde's features, but she could also see other thoughts forming in the sheriff's head.

As proud as Regina's words made her feel, the mention that she didn't think she was capable of enough love for offensive magic made her think- and remember.

Images of different orphanages and foster home appeared in front of her inner eye and she tried to chase them off by shaking her head.

"Emma, are you okay?"  
Regina's voice suddenly sounded concerned and Emma realized that by now they knew each other far too well to be able to just shrug things off without the other one noticing.

Turning to look at the brunette and locking eyes with her for a moment, Emma finally sighed. Regina had trusted her with some of her secrets, told her parts of her past, Emma found it was only fair to share parts of her story as well and Regina was the one person she would actually trust with them.

So she put her mug down on the table and tugged her legs under her body to sit more comfortably while being able to directly face Regina.

Regina watched Emma's reaction with growing concern, but followed her example and set down her mug as well before making herself more comfortable.

"You said you didn't think I was capable of enough love to handle offensive magic with it.", Emma started and Regina realized what mistake she had made.

"Oh, Emma, I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean it that way. I just…", but the blonde interrupted her by taking her hands, with which she had started gesturing around wildly, into her own.

"No, it's ok. You're right, actually. I didn't think I could do it either, if I'm being honest. I mean, there's never been that much love in my life."

The sheriff's look went distant and Regina could feel the hands around her own flag, so she moved her own to be the one holding Emma's hands.

The blonde shortly glanced when she felt that change and sighed before starting to explain.

"When my parent's put me in the wardrobe, I came through in the middle of a forest. I don't know how he did it, but somehow August- Pinocchio- managed to get us to a roadside motel and from there we were put into an orphanage. I don't remember any of that, though. It's only what I found out later.

I actually had a family until I was three."

At that point Emma paused for a moment and Regina could feel her struggling with the memories. More subconsciously than anything else she started rubbing her thumbs over Emma's hands in a comforting gesture while she waited for the blonde to continue.

"So the earliest memories I have are actually good ones."

A tiny smile curled at the sheriff's lips for the break of a second, before she continued and her voice suddenly sounded so much harder.

"Then she got pregnant and they got their own child, so they brought me back. I lived at the orphanage until I was eight.

We were about 30 children and there was a strict hierarchy. The oldest boys were the ones on top, the younger girls came last. The adults never really cared about the things that happened between us children. They just "let us play"."

She had to stop to swallow heavily at this point. A lot of incidents happened at that time. 13-year old boys had a wide palette of "pranks" to play on the younger girls, but it wasn't what she wanted to tell Regina now. So instead she jumped to the more prominent memories. The ones of which her nightmares were made of, the one's that she never told anyone before but that were the ones that sometimes still gnawed at her.

"I got another family when I had just turned 9. They had two other foster children, two other girls. We all shared one room, but for the first few weeks it was the best thing that ever happened to me. We had regular meals, there were only three of us sharing a room instead of 12 and the house had a garden where we would be allowed to play during the days.

One night after a couple of weeks, though, the father came into our room and took the oldest girl outside. At that time I didn't know what he did to her, but when she came back she was crying and wouldn't stop crying and that was when it started to become hell."

Regina winced at those last words, because she could imagine what that man had done to the little girl and she squeezed Emma's hands a tiny bit harder.

Emma was obviously struggling with those memories and it hurt Regina to see her in pain. She wanted to do something about it, but knew that she couldn't. The images were burnt into the blonde's mind, but maybe talking about them would actually ease the pain. It had for her at least, when she had trusted Emma about her mother, so she kept quiet.

"From that one night on he came almost every night and if he didn't, Sandy, that was her name, would wake us up because she was screaming and crying and tossing herself around the bed in nightmares.

We sometimes wouldn't sleep the whole night because we were so afraid of what was to come.

Sandy never told us what he did to her, she at one point stopped talking at all and started to freak us, me and Claire, out with it."

A question rose in Regina's mind and her stomach turned at the thought of it, but she had to ask.

"Did he… did he ever take you, too?", she managed to voice it.

Fortunately Emma shook her head and relief flooded Regina, while she let out a breath.

"At one point he stopped coming during the nights at all. Instead we were now being ignored. We wouldn't be allowed to leave the house anymore and we only got one meal a day. We almost never saw the woman anymore and if Claire or I managed to sneak out into the kitchen to get something more to eat and we were caught, he would hit us and lock us into our room for the next day. But no, he never sexually… assaulted me."

Emma was at the brink of tears. Telling the story to someone made her realize the range of it and she was suddenly overwhelmed by the unfairness of it. She never looked at it from an outer perspective before, always thought it was her fault, that it would just have to be this way because she didn't earn any better. Now though, while looking at Regina, who was holding her hands, and whose expression showed so clearly the disgust over the events, it made her realize how unfair all of it was and she was hit by the weight of it. Why did all of this happen to her? Why not anyone else?

A dry sobbed escaped her, before she forcefully bit her lip to stop it. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't let the memories make her feel this way, she never had.

Instead she quickly finished the story, through gritted teeth.

"They found out about what was happening when I was 13 and brought me back to the orphanage. I had six more families during the next 3 years. They didn't come close to what that first man did and mostly ignored me or used me to do their housework. When I didn't I would occasionally be slapped, but mostly just punished by being starved until I finally gave in and did what they wanted. I ran away when I was 16, met Henry's dad, then got into jail and found out I was pregnant."

She thought finishing the story would make the terrible feeling of unfairness and being wronged subside but it didn't. She still felt her lips quivering and her throat aching under uncried tears.

"So that's what my nightmares are about.", she ended, voice almost breaking.

Looking at Regina and the understanding and compassion in her brown eyes made her only want to cry more, so she averted her gaze and instead fixated her toes.

"Never keep fighting them.", she eventually heard Regina say and couldn't help a sob escaping from her throat, which was immediately followed by another and before she could do anything against it she was crying and sobbing uncontrollably.

Regina's heart ached at the sight of Emma breaking apart and she leaned forward to tug the blonde into an embrace, holding her tightly while she was crying, tracing comforting patterns over her back, all the while trying to swallow away the lump that had formed in her own throat.

When Emma slowly calmed down and finally broke the contact, Regina could feel that a few tears had escaped her eyes nonetheless.

"You're crying.", Emma noticed and in spite of the seriousness of the situation, Regina couldn't help a lopsided grin as she shrugged her shoulders at the irony of that statement.

"Well, so are you.", she replied, reaching up to brush away the tears from her own cheeks.

"Yeah, but why are you crying? It was my fucked up past.", Emma insisted, watching her closely.

Regina couldn't really stop the tears from falling as she shrugged her shoulders again.

She didn't want to disappoint Emma's trust in her by answering her story with her own, playing it like "Who has had it worse".

"Let's just say I wasn't as lucky as you when it came to being assaulted…"

She swallowed heavily and turned away from Emma to cover her face. It was just that one sentence, but the images it conjured were as terrifying as if she had told the story in detail.

It was only when she felt Emma's hands on her own once again, that she faced the blonde again.

Her eyes were red, her cheeks flushed and still wet and she looked exhausted, but the look Emma gave her was still one that was trying to comfort her, even if it was the sheriff who had just faced the demons of her past.

"The king?", was all she asked and Regina could only nod, before she burst out into tears.

Now it was Emma who pulled Regina into an embrace, trying to offer comfort to the other woman.

When they pulled apart again, Emma locked eyes with her before shrugging her shoulders and offering a lopsided smile.

"Look at us.", she said, "we're completely fucked up."

Regina laughed helplessly and nodded.

"I don't approve of your language, but yes, I guess we are."

"I'm sorry to have sworn in your presence, your highness.", Emma replied, nudging Regina's arm, which made the brunette laugh in honesty.

"It's 'your majesty'", she answered, nudging Emma back.

Silence settled over them for a moment, until Emma eventually broke it.

"Thank you.", she said quietly, "for listening. And I…", she hesitated for a moment, before continuing, "I want you to know that I consider you my friend."

Surprise showed on Regina's face and Emma wondered how the brunette could still think she only came here for Henry or anything like that. But eventually Regina smiled.

"Thank you, too, for listening and… for being my friend."

Emma nodded, smiling wildly.

This relationship with the former queen was certainly the strangest thing she ever experienced, but it was good. It was great, actually, Emma decided, squeezing Regina's hands a final time.

….

When Emma rang at her parents' door to get Henry that evening, she felt as balanced as she hadn't in a long time. The emotional talk with Regina had left her feeling unburdened and now she felt- good.

It was Snow who opened the door and as she entered the apartment, she noticed that it was oddly quiet for her son being here.

"Where's Henry?", she asked, as she sat down at the dinner table.

"He's still out with David. They're out at the stables, David wanted to give him another riding lesson, but they should be back soon."

"Ahh."

"Do you want some tea?"

Her mother was already pouring water into her own cup and Emma nodded.

When they were both seated at the table, Emma noticed her mother restlessly playing with the cup in front of her.

"Is something wrong?", she asked, immediately worrying for Henry, even though Snow's previous answers had not sounded alarming.

"No. No, everything's fine.", she now answered, lifting her head and looking at Emma.

"So how was your day?"

Watching her mother for another moment, but not able to find out what it was that was on her mind, she took a sip of her tea before answering.

"Good, it was really good. I was practicing with Regina and then we had a long talk and yeah…"

Emma noticed her mother flinching when she mentioned Regina's name and was confirmed with that when she asked her next question.

"How's Regina doing?"

"Ok.", Emma replied, squinting her eyes while watching Snow closely.

"Is she… I mean… Will you get her out of there?"

"Hopefully. Why do you…Wait!"

And then Emma understood. She had always seen the relationship between Regina and Snow as one of hatred and mistrust but forgot about their backstory. Her mother had told her about it, before the whole Cora-drama began, and also Regina sometimes made short mentions of it, after all it was what the whole classic fairy-tale was about.

Regina had been Snow's step-mother and though Emma would never say one good word about King Leopold after what she learned earlier, she remembered that the relationship between Regina and her mother had been a loving one, for a short time at least.

"That's why you locked her up, isn't it?"

"What?"

The expression on Snow's face was one of utter confusion, but it also had something of being caught to it.

Emma felt a rush of adrenaline as the puzzle pieces fell together in front of her eyes.

"She was your step-mom, you did have a good relationship with her before all the attempted murders. You felt guilty when you killed Cora, but you also still feel guilty about Daniel. That's why you locked Regina up, because you couldn't stand your guilty conscious when seeing her, right?"

Emma could tell that her mother tried to uphold an expression of confusion, but she failed greatly at it and Emma knew she was right in her assumptions.

Though, now, upon seeing her mother so obviously upset about the whole thing, she almost regretted she pointed it out.

Trying to come up with something that would save the situation from becoming painfully awkward and probably more emotional than Emma could handle for the day, she finally proposed:

"Talk to her!"

"You really think that would be a good idea?"

Not trying to hide the truth Emma's words held anymore, Snow's voice was now dripping of irony, but Emma insisted.

"Actually, I do think it is a good idea. Regina's no monster. You are two grown women, and since you can't kill each other right now, you can as well talk about your issues with each other. I can tell you that she's still mad about being locked up, and rightfully so, but she won't throw a tantrum when you come and apologize to her."

"Regina's never been one for apologies.", her mother argued.

"She's changed."

It was the first time she said it out loud, but it was true. Regina really had changed. Over the past months that they spend time together their relationship had changed to friendship, but Regina had also changed as a person, or otherwise Emma would have gotten tired of driving out to the cabin pretty soon, of that she was sure.

She was also sure, that Regina would forgive her mother if she apologized to her now, -maybe not for everything, maybe not for Daniel, but at least for the imprisonment.

"I really think, you should talk to her", Emma repeated.

She could see Snow thinking about it, but before any of them were able to say something more, the door opened and David and Henry came in.

"Mom!", Henry called out and ran over to her.

"I've been galloping for the first time today! It was so awesome! I'll become a real knight!"

Emma couldn't help, but laugh.

"I'm sure you will.", she answered, ruffling his hair and immediately sniffed at it's smell.

"But first you should get a shower and something to eat. You ready to go home?"

He nodded and grabbed his backpack, which he had thrown next to the door when he entered.

"Great, then let's go."

She turned to her father and gave him a smile.

"Thanks for looking after him."

"No problem, we're having so much fun, right Henry?"

"Right.", he confirmed, with a huge smile.

"Okay.", Emma laughed.

Already standing in the doorway, she turned back to look at Snow one last time.

"Do it", she said before turning her attention back to David and Henry.

"Bye and Good Night."

"Good Night, see you tomorrow.", David replied, before closing the door behind them.

….

A knock on the door made Regina look up from her book. A short look to the clock in the kitchen told her that it was way too early for Emma to come by.

She usually came around the early afternoon and now the clock only showed 11:15.

"Come in.", she called nonetheless, putting down her book onto the couch table.

The door opened, but it wasn't Emma who stood there, but her mother.

Regina couldn't believe her eyes. Snow White, the one person who was responsible for her being here, stood in the cabin's doorway and was looking as foolish as ever.

Long fostered anger bubbled up inside Regina, but since she couldn't act on it anyway she settled for the indifference she had perfected during all those curse-years as mayor.

"Ehm, hey.", Snow said hesitantly and Regina could see the princess was nervous, but she didn't care.

"What do you want?"

"I… I don't really know."

Regina only raised an eyebrow in response. There was no way Snow would just come by to say hi. The other woman wanted something; she just didn't want to tell it right away.

Deciding to remain silent, Regina could see how Snow started fidgeting under her glance and felt a little of the old day's satisfaction that she still held some power her.

"Regina, I need to talk to you…", Snow finally stated and sighed, "I want to apologize."

"Apologize?"

Now that definitely came unexpected. Sure, Emma had talked to her parents and said they apologized, but they did to her and Regina had been fairly sure, that Snow was still happy about her "arrangement".

"Yes. I… will you listen to me or just stare me down?"

There it was, Snow's utter self-confidence that nothing she'd do would ever actually be wrong.

Regina nodded anyway, by now she had gotten curious about what had driven the princess to come out to the cabin.

"I talked to Emma yesterday. Or rather, she talked to me. I feel guilty, about what I've done to you, Regina, about this whole thing, but also about Daniel."

Daniel, just the mention of his name made Regina's heart skip a beat before it clenched painfully.

"I'm sorry. All of this", she made a gesture around the cabin, "this is my fault and I shouldn't have done it. I overreacted. I couldn't stand the guilt after…after Cora. So when I called the Blue Fairy and we came up with this, it just sounded like the one thing that would ease my mind. I thought, once you were gone from town, I could just… forget about what I did. But I can't, and especially not when I know that Emma keeps coming here and cares about you and tries to do right what I did wrong. I'm sorry, Regina."

The speech had been longer than Regina expected and at the end of it Snow seemed to be at the brink of tears.

It was a sight that the former mayor hadn't seen in decades, but it still touched her, as did the princesses words.

Of course she didn't say anything new but actually hearing it from the Oh-So-Innocent-Snow White herself made a difference after all. It eased the anger she felt at least a little.

"Ok.", she eventually replied.

"Ok?" Snow lifted her head and blinked a few times, surprised, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean: It's ok. You overreacted. Now you apologized. It's ok, it doesn't change my situation, but it's ok."

"So you forgive me?"

Forgiveness was a huge word for Regina and even if she felt calmer than she had in ages, since she spent so much time with Emma, she wouldn't go that far. Her face must have given that away, too, because Snow already shook her head and quickly added: "No, forget that. It's ok. Thank you."

Regina nodded, ready to see her off. Since Snow couldn't enter the cabin, they had talked through the open door and by now it got rapidly cold inside.

"I really hope Emma manages to get you out of here. I… it…"

The princesses stuttering got annoying, but it also made Regina even more curious about what was going on inside the other woman's mind. She already apologized and knew that it was accepted, but there was definitely more to her behavior. So instead of pushing her to leave, Regina remained silent once again and simply waited.

"If you get out of here, I… I'd like to…." Snow sighed, before finally finishing her sentence, "I'd like to spend more time with you."

As soon as the words were spoken the princesses lowered her head and stared at her feet. Regina was still processing what she had just heard. Spend time with Snow White?, that sounded like the most bizarre thing ever.

But when she looked at the woman on the cabin's doorstep and saw how she intently focused on her feet, while playing around with her hands nervously, she couldn't help but she the child she once was.

And then Regina realized what it had all been about and let out a long sigh.

Snow White had always been a spoiled child, she had always gotten what she wanted and was used to everyone loving her, and usually everyone did. Even Regina did, in the beginning at least, before the king's deeds to her added fuel to a fire that Daniel's death started.

Losing her parents had been hard on the young girl, Regina knew that.

Being responsible for Cora's death didn't only bring up old memories for Regina, she realized, it also did for Snow.

The guilt over Cora's death was intensified by the fact that she was Regina's mother, Regina, who had been a mother figure to Snow for a few long years.

Watching the princess anxiously waiting for her response, Regina sighed.

"Snow", she eventually replied, "I do accept your apology for locking me up. I know, too, that you probably never wanted to kill Cora, even though, in retrospect it probably was the best possible thing to happen. I understand that you feel guilty, and actually, I'm not as big a person to say that you don't have to feel that way, because I do blame you for a lot of terrible things that happened to me. But in the end, I did so much wrong, too. I have a lot to feel guilt about. So swallow it and go on with your annoyingly perfect life. I will spend time with you, if you still want to do that when I get out of here."

Snow was looking at her intensely before letting out a relieved sigh.

"Thank you", she replied and smiled.

"Now, if you would leave and close the door, it's cold and contrary to you, I'm not dressed for that."

"Of course. Good Bye, Regina."

"Good Bye, Snow."

The princess closed the door and Regina heard her steps fading.

Now that was definitely one of the most awkward conversations Regina ever had, and she had a lot of them.

She couldn't really believe how much she still cared about that annoying royal brat, but obviously enough to feel the need to lighten her mind.

Sitting back down on the couch Regina wrapped herself in a blanket.

At least Emma would be proud of her. She took a short glance at the clock. About two more hours before she would be here, a smile crossed the brunette's face as she looked forward to that.

…

Time passed and it was already 4pm when Regina finally decided to call Emma. The blonde had never been that late without calling before and Regina started to worry.

But when she dialed the sheriff's number it sent her directly into voicemail. Frowning, Regina dialed again only to receive the same result. After a moment of thinking she decided to call the mansion's landline, but the call went unanswered.

Not answering her phone was absolutely untypical for Emma. She always had it with her and even if the position as sheriff didn't require that much attention lately, she always insisted on being able to be reached. So why wasn't she now?

Pacing up and down the cabin's living room, Regina fought with herself about calling Henry. They had talked on the phone occasionally over the past weeks, but Regina was reluctant to call him and ask about his other mother.

After a couple more minutes of pacing, the worry won and Regina eventually called Henry's cellphone.

It took a while, but then he answered.

"Henry! Hey, how… how are you? I was wondering if you knew where Emma is?"

"I'm fine, mom, it's just…"

" _Henry who is that? Do you have to be on the phone now?"_

There were a lot of noises in the background and it seemed to be pretty chaotic wherever he was. Regina was also pretty sure the voice she had heard had been Snow's. A bad feeling rose inside her and her stomach started to knot.

"Henry, where are you?", she asked.

"At the hospital."

"Hospital?"

Her voice pitched an octave and her heart started beating faster. What was happening in town?

" _Henry, who is that? Give me the phone!"_

" _But it's mom!"_

There were even more noises before it eventually became quiet all of a sudden and instead of Henry's it was now Snow's voice at the other side of the line.

"Regina?"

"Yes. Snow, what is going on? Is Henry okay? And where's Emma, she never showed up at the cabin today"

"Henry's fine, I promise. But… there has been an incident."

The princess's voice sounded far too serious for Regina's liking.

"An incident? What incident? Snow, tell me what's going on!", she demanded, getting anxious the longer she didn't know what was happening.

"Someone crossed the townline."

"What? Who? Who would do that after we found out what happens?"

"No, not like this. Someone came into town."

"What?!"

Outsiders in Storybrooke had never been a problem before. During the curse the town was almost as normal as every other town in this world. After all, the town was never self-sufficient and there were people passing through regularly, delivering groceries to the town's businesses and things like that. None of them intended to stay, so no one would notice that time stood still.

Now, though, time didn't stand still anymore and also magic was back. An outsider in Storybrooke would be a catastrophe, if he found out about their true identities.

Snow's voice brought her back from those thoughts.

"Emma went to talk to him, as soon as the dwarves had noticed him the first time. But obviously he was some kind of criminal on the run, because when she introduced herself as sheriff things got kind of out of hand."

"Did something happen to her? Is she hurt?"

Regina could feel the sudden rush of adrenaline at the mention of Emma's name. The possibility of the blonde being hurt conjured pictures of horror in front of her inner eye.

When Snow answered, Regina could hear the fear in the other woman's voice.

"No… I mean yes…We don't know for sure, yet. He knocked her out and got away, but the fairies healed her. She's still unconscious, though and we won't know anything for sure before she wakes up."

" _Snow! She's awake!"_

"Wait, Regina, I gotta go. David just said she's awake now. I'll call you again later!"

And with that the call was ended and all Regina could do was stare at her phone in horror.

Taking a few deep breaths she put the phone down on the kitchen counter and closed her hands around the edge of it to stop them from trembling.

A stranger had come to Storybrooke, attacked Emma and got away. The fairies, these pathetic incapable wanna-be witches healed Emma, but they still didn't know if she was ok.

Regina tried hard to keep panic from taking over.

She wanted to rush to the hospital to see the blonde for herself, she needed to know if she was okay right now! But she couldn't leave the cabin, she was trapped inside and unable to do anything about the situation.

Snow hadn't said anything about Emma being hurt seriously and it was probably not the first time Emma got attacked by some criminal, considering her job as a bounty hunter, but it didn't do anything to make Regina worry any less.

Unable to stand still anymore she started pacing through the room once again, trying to get off with the terrible feeling of being helpless and also with the prickling of her magic under her skin.

She was so agitated that she felt the magic in every pore. Had she been able to access it, she would have transported herself to the hospital immediately and her body knew that, reacting instinctively to her emotional status. The bracelet kept her magic from being effective, though, and so it now prickled everywhere under her skin. It was a horrible feeling, but one Regina knew she wouldn't get rid off until she could see for herself that Emma was ok.

So she just kept walking around the cabin, trying to distract herself and fool her magic into believing it was no longer needed.

The minutes passed and exactly 78 minutes after Snow had ended the last call, her phone rang. Immediately Regina rushed to the kitchen to pick it up and accept the call.

"Mom? It's Henry."

"Henry, honey.", Regina sighed, trying to keep her emotional state from her son in order to not worry him anymore.

"Snow told me that she told you about Emma and that you were worried."  
"She did and I am. How is she?"

"She's fine"

Regina let out long breath. She could hear from the sound of Henry's voice that he was not lying and that he was not worried anymore either. So the blonde probably really was ok.

"The fairies healed whatever injury she suffered and she's fine. We're just about to go home. Grandma and Grandpa try to convince her to stay the night at the hospital, but I'm pretty sure they won't be very successful with that."

A smile spread on Regina's lips at that image and she had to agree with Henry. She could feel her muscles relax and realized that she had been tensed up ever since she got the news about what happened. Now she felt exhausted, but also relieved, though the last bit of worries would not subside until she had seen and talked to Emma for herself.

"Thank you, Henry, for calling me.", she said, "Are you ok after today?"

"Yep. I mean, I was scared when Ruby picked me up from school and told me what happened, but the Blue Fairy promised me to take care of Emma and she did and now Emma's fine, so I'm fine, too. Though I really don't need another day like this."

"Sure, you don't", Regina replied with a laugh.

She was pretty sure that Henry had been more than a little scared today, but he was getting older so he downplayed whatever worries he might have had. And really, all that mattered was that Emma was fine now.

"Would you tell Emma to call me whenever she has the time?"

"Yeah, sure. Oh wait, she just won the argument against grandma and grandpa, so we're gonna leave now. We'll talk again, okay?"

"Yes. Goodbye Henry."

"Bye mom."

Ending the call and looking down on her phone Regina took another deep breath.

Emma was fine, Henry was fine, everyone was okay. Starting the water boiler and making herself some tea, Regina let the exhaustion settle over her.

She made herself comfortable on the couch and stared at her phone, waiting for Emma to call her.

She must have fallen asleep at some point, because when she woke up she was covered with a blanket and felt another body sitting at the end of the couch.

Blinking away the last bits of sleep, she realized what it meant if someone else was in the cabin and immediately all exhaustion was forgotten, when she sat up straight to look at the other person.

"Emma! You're here! Why didn't you wake me up?", she called out, while tossing the blanket away and moving over to directly sit beside the blonde, who was now smiling.

"I didn't want to wake you up, because you looked so exhausted and were so sleeping so peacefully.", she replied.

"I was so worried about you and you just show up here and don't even wake me up?!"

Regina was almost screaming at her and Emma was surprised by the outburst.

"I'm okay, Regina, I'm completely fine, I promise."

"I see that now but… but… you have no idea how worried I was! For all I know you could have died! And then you just show up here and… and… how long have you even been here? And what time is it?"

The desperation in Regina's reaction was so painfully obvious that Emma began to feel bad. Reaching out for the brunette's hand, she answered calmly.

"It's 9.15pm, I've only been here for about 10 minutes. I called you, once we were home and I had gotten rid of my parents, but you didn't answer. So I waited until Henry went to bed and told him I would just take a turn out here, to tell you that I'm fine, because he told me you were worried.

So here I am, and I'm absolutely fine, I don't have a single bruise. The fairies fixed me pretty well."

That was obviously the wrong thing to say, Emma realized once she had said it.

Regina withdraw her hands from the hers and started yelling again.

"The fairies could as well have killed you with their inability for proper magic!"

Emma really didn't know how to calm the brunette down and just tried to explain.

"But they didn't! Regina, I'm fine, and I'm here with you now and everything's okay! We even got the guy who did it already and he's locked up at the station. Everything is okay!"

She locked eyes with the former mayor and laid all of her honesty in that look.

It took a moment before she could see the brunette relax and she let out a breath, before she realized that Regina had started crying.

Her heart immediately clenched at the sight and she reached out to pull her into an embrace, though she was now completely confused by the brunette's behavior.

"What's going on?", she whispered in the other woman's ear, as she traced calming patterns over her back.

"I don't know", Regina managed to say under tears, pressing herself even closer to Emma.

When she had seen the blonde just casually sitting at the end of the couch something in her brain had just snapped and she had flipped out.

"I was just so worried.", she now whispered, burying her face in Emma's neck, comforted by the blonde's closeness, "I imagined the worst scenarios, that I'd never see you again, just… just when we managed to become friends. I felt so helpless! Being locked in here, while I knew you were hurt and at the hospital. Everyone else got to be there and I just couldn't and then my magic went nuts, because I desperately wanted to transport myself to you, which of course doesn't work because of the bracelet and I don't know…"

Never before had Regina felt so awful. She was not one who handled being helpless well and then the annoying sensation of her magic added to that even more.

Laying in Emma's arms now she just felt exhausted. Usually she wasn't comfortable being comforted by anyone else but with Emma she had already broken that habit before so she didn't care now either.

Held in her arms was the only way she now felt safe and could be sure that the world wouldn't just stop turning.

So when Emma finally broke the embrace she immediately missed the contact.

Emma reached for Regina's hands as soon as she saw the flicker of disappointment at the break of their embrace.

Squeezing them she smiled at the brunette while her mind ran a mile a minute.

Seeing the former queen so shaken up had clenched at her heart. She knew that being trapped in the cabin had just added and worsened her worry and triggered her break down. She didn't want Regina to suffer, she couldn't stand seeing it.

The situation with the cabin had of course been bothering the brunette the whole time but it was only now that Emma realized just how much impact it had on Regina's health.

Already feeling the tingling of her magic, Emma made a decision.

She let go of the brunette's hand and brought some distance between them, focusing on the wooden wall and the magical barrier covering it.

Watching Emma suddenly move away from her made Regina cringe, before she realized what the blonde was about to do.

"Emma! Wait, what are you trying to do?"  
"Breaking the spell", was the answer she already knew.

"Don't! You have no idea how to do that!"

"You told me how to do it. And I've gotten pretty good at magic already."

"But not that good. Emma, please, you have no idea what it means to break the spell."

"I don't care, Regina."

For a moment Emma turned her attention away from the spell's barrier and instead looked at Regina, though she was still focusing her magic.

"I want to get you out of here, Regina", she now explained, "and I want to do it sooner rather than later. This whole situation, it drains from you, and I don't want that. I don't want you to suffer. I care about you, and I want to get you out of here and I want to get you home to the mansion and to Henry and me, where you belong."

With that she looked back at the spell and stood up to get as close to the barrier as she could, without standing in the middle of it.

"Emma, don't!", Regina tried again.

She was sure that Emma had no idea what she was doing. Of course, she had told her how to break the spell, but that was all theory. There was a huge difference to actually doing it!

Regina was not only afraid that Emma wouldn't manage it, that wasn't the problem. She was afraid that it would take too much from her, too much energy, too much magic, especially after what she had been through today.

If the fairies really healed her, and it was really more they did than take away the headache she would have head if they hadn't done anything, then part of her energy was just borrowed, that was not at all a good way to start this.

But all Regina could do for now was watching. She could see the blue magic centering at Emma's heart. It was strong, definitely, but probably still not enough.

In order to break the spell Emma would have to fill the whole room with her magic, connect it to the surrounding magic, to make it stronger and then push against the spell, feeling for the spot where it was weakest, where it was once enacted, and break through the barrier at that exact point.

Regina could see and feel the change in magic around her and saw how the almost translucent web got tangled with blue wires more and more.

What enfolded itself in front of her eyes was overwhelming. She couldn't believe that Emma actually managed to make it that far. Her blue magic slowly worked its way through the air around them until right under the spell's dome.

Seeing this lit a small spark of hope in Regina. Her head still told her that the blonde was not even remotely experienced enough to succeed, but her heart hoped for her to nonetheless, so she just sat still and watched Emma.

The farther Emma reached out with her magic, the harder it got. She could feel her magic tangle around the surrounding web but it was hard to get it into every corner of the spell's dome. She squeezed her eyes shut to concentrate better, to not let go of any of the images that enabled her to use her magic in the first place, but it was getting harder to uphold them by the second.

When she felt like she had finally managed to pervade the web inside the spell completely she moved to the next step. She tried to feel for the weakest spot in the barrier.

She could feel differences in the power of the spell and she could make out weaker and stronger spots, but since her feeling for the regions farther away was not very sensible at all, she couldn't say for sure where she had to attack. She initially thought the cabin's door would have been the place where the spell was enacted, but she could already feel spots that were weaker than the door.

Feeling unsure about how long she was able to uphold her magic throughout the cabin at all she just went for the weakest spot she could tell for certain and slowly pushed outward.

She wasn't prepared for what happened when her magic touched the spell's.

"Ugh", was what erupted from her mouth as an electric shock shot through her and within a second all of her magic subsided, leaving her exhausted and feeling her legs tremble so she had to sink down to the floor.

"Emma!", Regina called out as soon as the blonde sank together and rushed over to her. Helping her up and back to the couch she mentally slapped herself for not stopping the blonde when she could have. It was completely foreseeable that Emma would not yet be able to break the spell. All this try had accomplished was that Emma was now drained of most of her magic.

Regina felt the blonde's forehead, when they had both sat down and the sheriff had leant her head against the back of the couch and closed her eyes.

"That was so foolish of you.", Regina stated, scanning the blonde for any signs of injury, before she returned to look at her face.

She leaned forward to brush an errand strand of hair back behind Emma's ear and the gesture made the blonde smile and open her eyes.

"I'm still okay and not hurt. Just exhausted.", Emma said, smiling at the brunette's concern, before turning serious.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do it."

"Don't be!", Regina immediately answered harshly, "you shouldn't even have tried. I told you, you weren't ready for that yet."

"I know. I just wanted to help you! I couldn't stand seeing you so upset."

Emma sat up straight so she could better face Regina while they were talking.

"You scared me when you were yelling at me earlier. I know you were only worried, but this whole situation, it affects you so much more than you realize. You would not have reacted so heavily if you hadn't been trapped in here."

Emma's words caught her off guard, though she had already said something similar earlier. She was right with what she said. Being trapped probably did affect her much more than she admitted.

But looking at Emma now, taking in all of her features and seeing the exhaustion she radiated, Regina realized something.

"I'm very grateful that you tried today, but look at what it got you. You're exhausted and probably feel completely worn out. You won't be able to use magic for a few days, either. Now you are suffering. I don't want you to suffer either. I'd rather stay in here for a year, before you get hurt in order to try and free me."

That was a huge thing to admit, but it was the truth and Regina felt the need to say it. She cared about Emma, more than she had about anyone else in years, except for Henry of course. The thought of Emma getting hurt, which she now experienced twice in one day, was just unbearable. She would adjust to her doom as long as it took for Emma to learn how to break the spell without overusing her magic.

Emma wasn't able to avert her gaze from Regina's eyes while she was talking.

She understood that what Regina just said was a huge confession of caring for her and as much as she disagreed with the idea of waiting a year until she would someday be ready to break the spell, Emma knew that her words meant something far more meaningful. They made her feel warm and happy and even managed to dispel the exhaustion- at least for a moment.

She felt her eyelids getting heavier soon, though, but didn't want to give into the exhaustion, especially since every time she even thought of sleeping the feeling of filling the room with her magic reappeared and it only made Emma feel worse than before.

Even the pictures of her loved ones, which usually were what she enjoyed most when using magic started to float around her mind and stopped her from even thinking about relaxing. The pictures of Henry, Snow, David and Regina…

Regina!, it suddenly fell from her eyes and within a moment she was wide awake again, staring at Regina intently.

She thought back to the day when they first started practicing the fireballs. She didn't manage it at first. It was only when she had thought about Regina that she was able to gather enough magic for the fireball. And she had done so for all of the offensive magic lessons they had ever since.

Apart from her family, she thought about Regina.

Regina, whom she had spent most of her time with over the past months. Regina, who trusted her with her biggest secrets and whom she trusted with hers. Regina, whose smile and laugh was the most beautiful thing Emma had ever seen. Regina, who was out of her mind worrying about her today.

 _Regina._

All the pieces in Emma's head fell into place as the wall she had built around her own emotions over the past years collapsed and she realized what she had subconsciously already known but suppressed: She was in love with Regina.

Looking up at the brunette now, her heart started racing and her throat suddenly went dry.

Regina noticed the change in Emma's expression. The exhaustion on the blonde's features was unable to miss but then suddenly within the break of a second it seemed gone. Instead Emma was looking at her so intensely that she began feeling uneasy and lowered her head to focus on her hands.

She only looked up, when Emma took her hands and squeezed them slightly, and was met with a breathtakingly beautiful smile. Regina had always thought of the sheriff as attractive, but right now she was radiating. Something had changed about her.

"What you just said, Regina.", Emma started, "You care for me?"

Now where did that conversation go?

"I… I do, yes."

She saw Emma swallowing heavily at her answer and got only more confused.

"What is it, Emma? A moment ago you were almost falling asleep on the spot and now… now you're glowing. What happened?", she finally asked what she had been wondering about.

"Yeah.", Emma sighed. Of course, Regina already noticed her change in behavior.

Taking a deep breath Emma brought up the courage to say the next sentence, desperately hoping the brunette would understand without her having to explain everything in detail. Because after all, Emma was not sure to be able to explicitly say the three words that would change their relationship forever.

"Regina. I…", she swallowed a last time before continuing, "I have been thinking about you to conjure my magic lately."

Emma was so nervous she even closed her eyes after having said her last words, until she realized how childish that was and opened them again.

What she saw on Regina's face was pure confusion and her heart sank a little.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because… because…", the words were stuck on her tongue and her heart was beating frantically in her chest. If Regina rejected her now, she wouldn't know how to handle that.

"Because magic is emotion,", she finally said and couldn't help but close her eyes before continuing, "and the most powerful emotion is…"

"love", Regina finished and Emma's eyes shot open.

For a moment they both just looked at each other, locked gazes and went lost in each other's eyes.

Emma's heart was still racing and she felt like she had just ripped her chest open and exposed her organs to the world. And she had, in a way, she had broken down the walls she had built around herself for years and confessed her love to Regina and by that made herself as vulnerable as she had promised herself to never become again, since Henry's father broke her heart all those years ago.

Looking at Regina now, who hadn't said a word yet, her heart was racing and she was slowly feeling like she might pass out any second if she didn't do anything soon. Her gaze fell from Regina's eyes to her lips and without really realizing it, she moved closer to those lips, leaning towards Regina, who didn't make a move to back away.

It felt like an eternity but eventually Emma gave into the urge to kiss the brunette and their lips finally touched; and Regina- kissed her back.

Well at least until another electric shock, though not entirely unpleasant and in no comparison to the one Emma got from the spell, went through both of them and made them jump apart.

"What… what was that?" Emma asked looking around the cabin and then back at Regina.

Regina, meanwhile, knew exactly where that shock had derived from, but was too afraid to actually confirm it, because it was just too good to be true. Instead she focused on Emma in front of her, or rather on her lips, which had felt so warm and soft. She wanted to get lost in the feeling of kissing those lips.

"Regina, are you ok?", Emma's voice reached her, "What was that?"

"It was the bracelet.", she eventually replied, tearing her gaze away from Emma's lips and instead looking her in the eyes.

"The bracelet?"

Confusion was painted all over the blonde's face, but Regina simply raised her left arm and tugged up her blouse's sleeve.

"It came off."

"How…", Emma started but then stopped when she realized she knew the answer. A smile spread on her lips and her racing heart skipped a beat, while relief flooded her.

"The only magic powerful enough to break any curse is True Love's Kiss.", she stated and tried to keep her excitement down.

"You love me, too", it was half a statement, half a question, but the only thing that mattered, was that Regina nodded.

That was all Emma needed to close the distance between them again and press her lips against Regina's for a second time.

This time their kiss was longer, deeper and filled with all the emotions neither of them weren't able to voice aloud.

When they pulled away, Regina was smiling back at Emma.

"Thank you, Emma.", she said and the pure honesty and love on her face made Emma melt away, though she was confused.

"For what?"

"For saving me. For getting me out of this cabin."

"But I didn't…."

"Oh, you did.", Regina interrupted her and held her hand palm up to reveal a burning fireball.

Realization hit Emma, and the change of her expression from confused to excited was beautiful to watch.

Regina got up from the couch where they had still been sitting to pass the short distance to the spell's barrier.

Emma might not have been strong enough to break the spell, but the former queen definitely was.

Regina reached out with her magic, let it wrap itself around and through the translucent web around her until she had reached every corner of the spell's dome, the air now glowing a dark purple. Feeling the spell she soon found the barrier's weakest spot and pushed against it.

When her magic touched the spell's she felt the initial shock, but it was only short before the spell, in the end not that powerful at all, gave way and broke under the influence of her magic.

With a smile Regina made a step forward towards the door, before she turned around to look at Emma.

"You freed me after all.", she said.

"It seems I did.", Emma answered, getting up to walk over to Regina, wrapping her arms around the brunette, "but I hope we will continue with our lessons?"

"We will.", Regina answered, "and you know what will be next on your list?"

"What?"

"This."

Emma felt Regina's lips on hers and just when she returned the kiss, the world started spinning for a second and seemed to get completely out of shape while purple smoke clouded her view until suddenly the whole sensation was gone again.

When she opened her eyes again, they were in the exact same position as before, but their surroundings had changed.

Instead of in the cabin they were now standing in the mansion's master bedroom, moonlight falling in through the window and lighting their features.

Emma's lips curled into a smile.

"You brought us home."

"Home?", Regina asked raising an eyebrow but Emma only nodded.

"Home.", she repeated, before leaning in to kiss Regina again.


End file.
